THE TAPPAN-KENDALL HISTORIES 



OUR EUROPEAN 
ANCESTORS 

AN INTRODUCTION 
TO UNITED STATES HISTORY 

BY EVA MARCH TAPPAN 

Author of 

"an elementary history of our country" 

"american hero stories," " england's story" 

"old world hero stories " 

"THE STORY OF THE greek people" 

« 4 THE STORY OF THE ROMAN PEOPLE," ETC. 




HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 

BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO 

Cbc fiitoetfibe preu* Cambridge 



■ 



V 



fc_(ff«f 



THE TAPPAN-KENDALL SERIES 
OF ELEMENTARY HISTORIES 

BY EVA MARCH TAPPAN, Ph.D. 
AND CALVIN NOYES KENDALL, LL.D. 



American Hero Stories, Grades IV-V 
by Eva March Tap fan. 

Elementary History of Our Country 
Grades V-VI 

by Eva March Tappan. 

Our European Ancestors, Grades VI-VII 
by Eva March Tappan. 

History of the United States 

Grades VII-VIII 

by Reuben Gold Thivaites 

and Calvin Noyes Kendall. 






COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY EVA MARCH TAPPAN 
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



JJs 



ftbt SMberfftt Drt« 

CAMBRIDGE ■ MASSACHUSETTS 
PRINTED IN THE U. S. A. 



PREFACE 

Recent years have brought the United States into a 
wilderness of problems. Our world is a very different place 
from the world of a century ago. Looking back not so very 
many decades, history was an outline of wars and a series of 
statements more or less partisan, for whose modification 
there was little demand. History to-day is a study of mo- 
tives and men, of causes and effects. Geography used to be 
in great degree a matter of unknown quantities. A large 
area of our own country was contentedly marked on the 
map "Great American Desert." People made their wills 
before they ventured to cross the ocean. Any mediocre 
book of wanderings in Europe was read almost as eagerly as 
one of travels on a distant planet might have been. To-day 
oceans have narrowed ; time and distance have been almost 
annihilated. 

In the earlier days science moved slowly. A scientific 
discovery was the property of a few scholars. Simplified 
lectures gradually brought it to the knowledge of the people. 
Inventions appeared one at a time. A single machine over- 
turned the customs of a country. To-day inventions come 
by handfuls; knowledge is thrust upon us. The boy in the 
street knows more of electricity than did his learned grand- 
father. Science has become spectacular; but we are well 
used to marvels. We are blinded by excess of light. A sci- 
entific discovery is described in the Sunday papers. Mon- 
day morning it is transmuted into some simple household 
convenience, perhaps even a toy for children. Its coming 
calls forth less surprise and enthusiasm than a football vie- 



iv PREFACE 

tory or a thrilling movie film. We are too much accustomed 
to wonders to feel wonder. 

Questions that were once of hardly more than academic 
interest have become of the utmost practical importance. 
Such a question is that of the emigrant. The key to the 
problem is to understand the people who come to us by 
thousands. To understand our next-door neighbor, a person 
of the same blood, bringing up, and traditions as ourselves, 
is not always easy. What is it then to understand a neigh- 
bor who is the result of thousands of years of customs, be- 
liefs, and teachings different from our own? 

The first step is a sympathetic knowledge. Real citizens 
are not won by conquest, but by comprehension. "How 
could I hate him?" asked Charles Lamb, the man of many 
friends. "Don't I know him?" 

As with people, so with peoples. Knowledge and compre- 
hension of one another; arbitration; peace; perhaps eventu- 
ally a United States of Europe — a magnificent programme 
— this is what the Treaty of Locarno of 1925 promises us. 
May it be a treaty that shall never be broken. 

This little book aims at giving to children in their degree 
an impetus toward learning more of our history than lies on 
the surface current of dates and events. In detail as well as 
in outline, it follows the well-known "Report of the Com- 
mittee of Eight," which has had so great an effect upon the 
study of history in our schools. 

Eva March Tappan 



CONTENTS 

INTRODUCTION 
I. The Early Immigrants and what they started with . I 

THF GREEKS AND WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED FROM THEM 
II. Why we remember the Greeks 10 

III. The Greeks at Home and Abroad 25 

WHAT THE ROMANS LEARNED FROM THE GREEKS AND 
WHAT THEY HAVE TAUGHT US 

IV. The Early Days of Rome 37 

V. Rome becomes an Empire 51 

THE HEIRS OF THE ROMANS 

VI. The Germans 67 

VII. Alfred and the English 81 

VIII. How the English began to win their Liberties . . 95 
IX. How People lived in England and in Europe during 

the Middle Ages no 

X. The Church in the Middle Ages 125 

INTERESTS BETWEEN EAST AND WEST 
XL Pilgrimages, Crusades, and Commerce 132 

THE DISCOVERY OF THE WESTERN WORLD 
XII. The Beginnings of Discovery ....... 147 

XIII. Columbus . . . ... . . . . . 156 

XIV. The Successors of Columbus 173 

XV. The Beginnings of Conquest 186 



vi CONTENTS 

EUROPEAN RIVALRIES WHICH INFLUENCED CONQUEST 
AND COLONIZATION 

XVI. England in the Days of Elizabeth 198 

XVII. Rivalry between France and Spain 209 

XVIII. Revolt of the Dutch against the King of Spain . .215 

XIX. England joins in the Fight against Spain . . . 223 

XX. English Voyages Westward 239 

Index 251 



The cover designs represent : on the front cover, the Landing of Columbus, from a 
painting by Gabrini in the Field Museum, Chicago ; on the back cover, an English ship 
of the time of the Spanish Armada and the earliest English explorations in America ; and 
on the shelf edge of the book, the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. 



LIST OF IMPORTANT DATES 

B.C. 

H93(?) Trojan War. 

753 (?) Founding of Rome. 

490 Battle of Marathon. 

480 Battles of Salamis and Thermopylae. 

465-429 Age of Pericles. 

146 Carthage is destroyed. Greece becomes a Roman province. 

58-51 Caesar conquers Gaul. 

55 Caesar visits Britain. 

A.D. 

330 Constantine founds Constantinople. 

410 Alaric sacks Rome. 

449 Saxons invade Britain. 

597 St. Augustine preaches Christianity in Britain. 

871 Alfred the Great becomes King of England. 

1066 William of Normandy conquers England. 

1095 First Crusade. 

1 190 Third Crusade. 

12 1 5 John signs Magna Carta. 

1453 The Turks capture Constantinople. 

1487 Diaz rounds the Cape of Good Hope. 

1492 Columbus discovers America. 

1498 Da Gama goes to India by sea. 

1519 Cortes invades Mexico. 

1522 Magellan's ship makes the first circumnavigation of the globe. 

1542 De Soto discovers the Mississippi River. 

1558 Elizabeth becomes queen of England. 

1568 Revolt of the Netherlands. 

1588 Destruction of the Spanish Armada. 

1607 Jamestown is founded. 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



CHAPTER I 

THE EARLY IMMIGRANTS AND WHAT THEY 
STARTED WITH 

We are all immigrants or descendants of immigrants. Did 
you ever think how different the world would be if every one 
stayed just where he was born, never traveled anywhere, 
never saw any other country, and knew nothing of the cus- 
toms of other lands? A man living in the mountains would 
have little idea of the extent and flatness of a prairie, and 
a man whose home 
was beside a quiet 
river could not even 
guess how the ocean 
breakers look when 
they dash against 
the rocks. Worse 
than this, the peo- 
ple of one country 
would know only 
what they had found 
out for themselves. The folk of one land would be using a 
steam or gasoline plough while those of another were dig- 
ging up their fields with a crooked stick. One nation might 
discover what the stars are made of, while another was 
believing them to be burning candles. Moreover, the people 
in one country might be so badly crowded that they could 




Courtesy Cunard S. S. Co. Ltd. 

THE AQUITANIA LEAVING NEW YORK HARBOR, 
1918 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



not raise enough to eat, while in another country they 
might be so scattered that they were hardly safe from wild 
beasts. 

It is fortunate for the world that men have not always 
stayed in their first homes, and that many of them have 
been willing to go into other lands and make new homes for 
themselves. A person who does this is called an immigrant. 
It is possible that the Indians may have lived in this country 
always, but aside from them, every person whose home is in 
the United States is either an immigrant himself or the de- 
scendant of one. Immigrants came here for all sorts of rea- 
sons. Some hoped to find gold or to make money in trade; 
some wished to be free to worship God as they thought 
right; some had broken the laws of their own lands and 

wished either to make a fresh 
start or to have more free- 
dom to do as they chose. 

How immigrants have 
come to this country. It 
was not easy to be an immi- 
grant in early days. When 
the Pilgrims came from 
England to Plymouth, they 
were more than nine weeks 
on the voyage. Their ves- 
sel, the Mayflower, was 
crowded and uncomforta- 
ble. The only ways known to preserve food were to salt it 
or dry it ; and it is no wonder that when the Pilgrims landed 
and killed some geese and ducks, they ate "with soldier 
stomachs," as one of them said. To-day, immigration is quite 
a different matter. In the first place, the voyage from Eng- 
land can be made in five or six days. Then, although most 
of our immigrants come as steerage or third-class passengers, 




THE MAYFLOWER, 1620 
(From the National Museum model) 



THE EARLY IMMIGRANTS 3 

they have more comforts than even a man of some wealth 
could procure three hundred years ago. 

How immigration is limited. In early times, immigrants 
came from Europe only, and almost entirely from England, 
France, and Spain ; now they come from all over the world 
and in large numbers. In 191 1, for instance, there was an 
average of twenty-four hundred for every day in the year. 
Formerly, any one who chose to come was admitted; but 
we have learned that it is not fair to the people already in 
the country or to the immigrants who wish to become good 
citizens if we admit those who are suffering from contagious 
diseases, or are convicts, or are opposed to a just govern- 
ment, or are plainly so unable to support themselves that 
they will have to be cared for by the other citizens. There- 
fore, before they are allowed to come into the country, they 
are examined by doctors and inspectors to make sure that 
they are likely to become desirable Americans. Those who 
cannot pass this examination are sent back to their former 
homes. 

Now, it is true that Americans are immigrants or descend- 
ants of immigrants; and we naturally think that our his- 
tory did not begin until the first immigrants came here. 
But to understand clearly what happened in this country 
after they came here we must know what kind of people 
they were. And to know what kind of people they were we 
must know something about the Europe from which they 
came. 

The countries that made up the ancient world. In the 
time of Christ, the Romans, who lived in Italy, were called 
the rulers of the world ; but the "world," as then understood, 
was rather a small world, for little of it was known except 
the countries around the Mediterranean Sea. The names of 
the peoples who lived in those countries were quite different 
from those that they now bear; for the French were called 



4 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

Gauls; the Italians, Romans; and the English, Britons. 
Around the eastern and southern shores of the Mediterra- 
nean Sea many Greeks lived. They called themselves Hel- 
lenes (hel'enz), but other nations called them Greeks. Eng- 
land had been visited by the Romans and earlier nations in 
search of tin, and they called the land Britannia, which is 
supposed to mean the land of tin. Somewhere far away in 
the Northern Ocean, probably north of the British Isles, 
there was thought to be a mysterious island, which people 
spoke of as " Ul'ti-ma Thu'le," or the most distant land, and 
which may have been the coast of Norway. Most folks sup- 
posed the earth to be flat. Some learned men believed it to 
be round ; but even they could not explain how there could 
be on the other side of the world antip'odes, or, as the word 
means, people "with feet opposite" their own. It was 
thought that south of Africa and Asia there was a great 
mass of land, but scholars were not agreed whether it joined 
Africa or not. In the fifteen hundred years between the times 
of Christ and the coming of the ships of Columbus to Amer- 
ica, much was learned about the world, and much progress 
was made, but even then no one dreamed of the great Ameri- 
can continent. 

Knowledge brought to this country by its settlers. It was 
in 1492 when Columbus discovered America, and before 
many years had passed, little groups of people began to 
make their homes in the New World. Now, if a man who 
had spent all his life on a little island, living in the fashion 
of Robinson Crusoe, should go to some strange new country, 
he would not have a great deal of knowledge to carry with 
him. He would know how to make a rude shelter for him- 
self, how to collect and preserve berries and other fruits, 
how to tame some animals, to snare others, and to protect 
himself from still others; and he would know little besides. 
The people who first came to live in America had not spent 



6 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

their lives on little desert islands, and they brought with 
them much valuable knowledge. Indeed, quite a number 
of them were university graduates. Instead of houses in 
trees, they had had comfortable homes, and they had seen 
noble palaces and stately cathedrals. Instead of dressing 
themselves in the skins of wild animals, they had worn well- 
made clothes, and some were accustomed to silks and satins 
and velvets. They had not been obliged to depend upon 
the chance growth of wild fruits for their food; they had 
learned how to cultivate the ground. They had tools and 




MATCHLOCK AND REST 

firearms and household utensils and a countless number of 
other things which the man from the island would not have 
had, and would have known nothing about. 

What the early immigrants knew of inventions. Neither 
these immigrants, nor any one else for that matter, knew 
anything about the telegraph, the telephone, the steamship, 
the little friction match, or other recent inventions, which 
are so common that we can hardly realize what living with- 
out them would be; but they did know how to build excel- 
lent sailing vessels, and how to steer them by means of the 
compass, and so they dared to venture out of sight of land. 
They knew how to use gunpowder, and so they could defend 
themselves against savages. Moreover, they could print 
books. The earlier books had been written by hand on 
parchment or on papy'rus, a species of paper made of the 
pith of the papyrus plant. Then a few "block books" were 
made ; that is, coarse lettering for a whole page was cut upon 
one block and printed from it; but this was very expensive, 



THE EARLY IMMIGRANTS 



=--**» 




A NEW ENGLAND STOCKADE 



because the block could not be used for any other book. 

When at length it was discovered that type could be made 

with one letter on each, so that after they had been used for 

one book, they could be separated and used again and 

again, books became 

much cheaper, and 

knowledge of what 

was going on in the 

world went rapidly 

from one country to 

another. 

Hints from early 
inventions. Long 
before these inven- 
tions came into use, 
there were others, many of which have given hints to more 
recent inventors. The hand loom, for instance, is several 
thousand years old, and it has developed into the swiftly 
weaving looms of our factories. The sickle which was once 
used to reap grain has become the great reaping and thresh- 
ing machine. The undecked boat has become the luxurious 
steamship that is almost a traveling city. Rough carts with 
wheels of solid wood have become comfortable carriages 
and automobiles. 

The development of inventions. These inventions were 
not developed without much time and much hard thinking. 
The invention of the alphabet, for instance, was a far less 
simple matter than it may seem. If an early Egyptian 
wished to write, "A woman is spinning," he had to cut with 
a sharp tool a picture of a woman at a wheel. Paper had not 
been invented; therefore he used stone. After a while, a 
character was used for each syllable, as it is to-day in Chi- 
nese and Japanese. The people of Babylon had a sort of 
alphabet which they wrote on clay tablets. Instead of a 



8 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 




FLAX WHEEL 



pen, they used a stylus; that is, a bronze tool, probably 
three-sided. A stroke made with this left a wedge-shaped 
impression. That is why the Babylonian 
writing is called cu-ne'i-form, which means 
wedge-shaped. The material on which 
people wrote had much to do with the 
shape of their characters. It is easier to 
cut straight lines than curves into wood; 
therefore the people who wrote on wood 
seldom used curves. To cut straight lines 
into palm leaves would split them; there- 
fore those who wrote on palm leaves used curves and 
avoided straight lines. Little by little, the idea came to 
people of representing not a syllable, but a single sound by 
one letter. The Greek alphabet consisted 
of twenty-four letters, and many of the 
capitals are shaped like ours. Neither 
the Greek nor the English is a perfect 
alphabet, for to be perfect, each charac- 
ter should represent one sound and only 
one. It is a vast improvement, however, 
on Egyptian hieroglyphics. 

The early immigrants brought to 
America, then, familiarity not only with scores of inventions 
of their own times, but also the knowledge which had been 
handed down to them from the much earlier times. They 
brought ideas too; and a good idea is the most valuable 
thing in the world. 




WOOL SPINNING WHEEL 



STUDY SUGGESTIONS 

Describe any journey that you have taken, even a trolley ride, and 

tell what you saw that was new to you. 

Why is it better to learn different ways of doing things? 

If you know any immigrants, ask them to tell you why they came to 

this country and to describe the voyage. 



THE EARLY IMMIGRANTS g 

4. In how many ways do we preserve food? Why should we preserve it 
at all? 

5. Ought the people of a country to admit all who wish to enter it? 

6. If you had been a Roman, should you have gone to Britannia by sea 
or by land, and why? 

7. How do you know that the earth is not flat? 

8. Suppose you had lived on a desert island, what should you know how 
to do? 

9. Imagine you are one of the early immigrants to this country and tell 
what you have learned at home to do. 

10. What are some recent inventions? 

11. What difference would it make if we had no printing? 

12. Why do we need the alphabet? 

13. Why is a good idea of value? Can you name any inventors who had 
good ideas? 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

Why would it have been better to live in America than on Robinson 

Crusoe's island ? 
The son of an early immigrant tells what knowledge his father brought to 

this country. 
Which of our capital letters could be easily cut into wood and which intc 

palm leaves? 



CHAPTER II 

WHY WE REMEMBER THE GREEKS 

The geography of Greece. Many of the ideas which the 
early immigrants brought to this country were centuries 
upon centuries old and had been learned from distant lands. 
One of the most important of these lands was the little 
country of Greece. The sea surrounded it on three sides, 
and, indeed, an arm of the sea almost cut it in two, leaving 
only a narrow neck of land to hold the northern and south- 
ern parts together. The southern part stretched out in four 
long fingers into the blue waters of the Mediterranean. In- 
deed, the water ran up into the land and the land reached 
out into the water in such a friendly fashion that no part of 
the country was more than forty miles from the sea; nor was 
it more than ten miles from the mountains. 

The land and its products. These chains of mountains 
ran through the country in all directions, often coming 
close to the shore. They were bold and rugged, and there 
were few places where one could cross from one side of a 
range to the other. They divided the land into narrow val- 
leys and small plains, either walled in by hills or partially 
bounded by the sea. Some of these had only a scanty soil, 
but others were fertile and had pasture for sheep, rich fields 
for wheat, and excellent ground for olives, figs, and vines. 
The Greeks made the wool of their sheep into finely woven 
cloth, they formed pottery of graceful outline, and wrought 
ornaments of gold and silver. They had mines of iron and 
silver and copper, and they made famous swords of bronze. 
They wore garments of either wool or linen, and dyed them 



12 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

with a kind of shellfish that was found just off their eastern 
shores. 

The Greek rivers. There were not many rivers in Greece, 
and what there were rose high up in the mountains, and 
tumbled down the rocky slopes and into the sea at headlong 
speed ; for the country was not large enough to give them a 
chance to broaden and flow quietly before they reached the 
coast. Indeed, there was not one really navigable River in the 
whole country. When summer came, many of them gave 
up trying to flow and settled into a series of pools, or even 
dried up entirely. Worse than this, occasionally one had a 
rather surprising habit of dropping into some cavern and 
flowing underground for a time, and then reappearing on the 
surface. Once in a while a stream vanished and never reap- 
peared, finding somewhere a subterranean outlet to the sea. 

The islands about Greece. The long narrow bays which 
indent the coast of Greece open pathways out to the open 
sea. Most people, when they look upon the ocean, long to 
sail away and away and see what is beyond the horizon's 
rim. The sea was not far from any country of Greece, as 
has been said, and the Greeks felt this longing very keenly. 
In the early uays they had no compass, and therefore sail- 
ing out of sight of land was not easy; for in cloudy weather, 
when sun and stars could not be seen, mariners could only 
guess where they might be. The Greeks, however, seldom 
had to meet this difficulty, for all about their country were 
islands — "stepping-stones" they have been called — so 
that they could sail long distances without danger. These 
islands really seemed to point the way to the rich country 
of Asia Minor. 

The little Greek communities. Now, what kind of people 
should we expect to find in a country like Greece — cut up 
by mountains and sea into little valleys and plains, with a 
group of people living in each division and shut off from 



WHY WE REMEMBER THE GREEKS 13 

other groups? We should expect, of course, each little com- 
munity to have its own ideas on all subjects. As the moun- 
tain passes were few, the people could not come together 
easily and so discover that other folks had ideas possibly 
better than their own, and that it might be wise to adopt 
some of their customs and ways of thinking. If the rivers 
had been navigable, there would have been an exchange of 
products, and the people of different parts of the land would 
have met frequently ; but as it was, each community raised 
its own food as far as possible, and lived its own life. No 
member of a Greek state could own houses or land or marry 
a woman in another state than his own. 

The bonds of union among the Greeks. A few times some 
of the Greek states united for a while against some foreign 
enemy, but in general each state was independent and glo- 
ried in its independence. Still, there were some bonds of 
union among the Greeks. They all spoke the same language, 
they worshiped the same gods, and sometimes they formed 
what they called "groups of neighbors" to care for some 
special temple. Then, too, every five years they celebrated 
games in honor of the gods, and only men of pure Greek 
blood were allowed to contend. It is true that sometimes 
they behaved like a family of quarrelsome children; but in 
spite of their disagreements and contests, they did cling 
together after a fashion, and they were all indignant if any 
one of the states brought in foreigners to help in a war with 
any other state. 

The Greek gods. The Greeks believed that there were 
many gods, whose home was on Mount Olym'pus, a moun- 
tain in the north of their country, and they had hundreds 
of stories about their deeds, some so poetical and beautiful 
that people have enjoyed them for many centuries. Indeed, 
we can hardly read a poem that does not conVain some 
allusion to them. 



14 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



The golden fleece. One of these stories was about the 
search for the golden fleece. The kingdom rightfully belong- 
ing to a young man named Jason had been kept from him 
by his uncle Pe'li-as. When Jason went to demand it, Pe'li-as 
did not dare to refuse, but suggested to Jason that it would 




Edwards 



JASON CLAIMING HIS KINGDOM 



be a fine thing for him to have an adventure or two before 
settling down as ruler of a little country and hinted that he 
should go in search of the golden fleece. This he did. The 
king in whose realm the fleece was agreed that Jason might 
have it if he would yoke to a plough two fire-breathing bulls 
and sow some dragon's teeth. By the aid of a charm given 
him by the king's daughter, Medea, Jason yoked the bulls 
and sowed the dragon's teeth, which sprang up as armed 
men and rushed upon him with drawn swords. He threw a 
stone among them, and every man supposing the next man 
had struck him began to fight his neighbor, and soon they 



WHY WE REMEMBER THE GREEKS 



15 



were all slain. Jason carried home the fleece of gold, and in 
spite of his uncle he finally got possession of his kingdom. 

The story of Hercules. Another Grecian hero was Her'cu- 
les. For some fault Zeus (zus), king of the gods, bade him 
obey his enemy Eurystheus (u-ris'thus) in whatever he 
might command. Eurystheus ordered him to undertake 
twelve adventures, known as the "Twelve Labors of Her- 
cules." He captured several enormous wild animals, he 
killed one monster with six legs, another with nine heads, 
and a flock of sav- 
age birds that had 
an unpleasant habit 
of devouring peo- 
ple. He held up the 
sky for a time so 
that the giant At- 
las might bring him 
some golden apples 
from the Garden of 
the Hes-per'i-des. 
These were a few of 
the exploits of Her- 
cules, but any one 
of them would have 
made him deserving 
to be called a hero. 

The wooden horse 
of Troy. The most 
famous of all the 
tales of Greece is 
that told by her 

great poet Homer about the heroes of her war with Troy. 
Virgil, a Roman poet, tells of the ten-years' struggle of the 
Greeks to capture the city, then of their success by the trick 




Cleyn 



THE WOODEN HORSE OF TROY 



16 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

of making a great wooden horse filled with armed men. The 
Trojans were persuaded by a Greek, who pretended to be a 
deserter, that the horse if once within their city would pro- 
tect them, and they dragged it in so eagerly that they even 
tore down some of the wall to make way for it. That night, 
when all were sleeping, the armed men slid down a rope, 
killed the guards, and opened the gates to the Greeks. So 
Troy fell. Homer tells in his Odyssey (od'i-si) the adven- 
tures of a Greek leader U-lys'ses or O-dys'seus after the fall 
of the city, of his wanderings about the Mediterranean Sea 
for many years, and then, finally, of his return to his own 
home in the garb of a beggar, where his faithful dog, old 
and feeble, was the only one to recognize him. It is in the 
Odyssey that Hawthorne found some of the stories which 
he retells in his Wonder-Book and Tanglewood Tales. 

Legends of the founding of Greek cities. Even with the 
founding of cities by the Greeks some myth or legend is 
often connected. Of Marseilles (mar-salz') it was said that 
a Gallic chief invited a Greek merchant to his daughter's 
wedding feast. When the moment came for the daughter 
to point out her husband by giving him a cup of wine, be- 
hold she gave the cup to the merchant. Their marriage 
brought about the settlement of the city by Greeks and 
Gauls together. Alexandria was founded by Alexander the 
Great. For want of chalk, he marked the outlines of the city 
with flour on the black soil. A flock of birds ate the flour, 
and Alexander was greatly disturbed lest this should be a 
bad sign. "Not so," declared his soothsayer; "it is a sign 
that your city will be rich enough to supply all who come to 
it from other nations." Con-stan-ti-no'ple (or By-zan'tium, 
which was its earlier name) was founded by Greeks. Its 
harbor is called the Golden Horn because it is shaped like a 
horn, and because its currents bring in fish in such large 
numbers. Nearly opposite to it, across the Strait of Bos'- 



WHY WE REMEMBER THE GREEKS 17 

pho-rus, was an earlier town named Chal-ce'don. According 
to legend, the god Apollo bade the Greeks make a settlement 
"opposite to the city of the blind," giving it this name be- 
cause the fine location of Constantinople had been over- 
looked by the earlier settlers. Of Athens the story is told 
that the gods promised the city to Poseidon (po-si'don) and 
A-the'ne, or rather to the one that should bestow upon it 
the more useful gift. Poseidon gave the horse, and Athene 
the olive. The gods decided that the olive was the more 
useful, and so the city was named for her. 

Marathon. The Greeks were a courageous people, and 
some of their battles have been famous for twenty-four 




GREEK FOOTMAN AT MARATHON 

hundred years. One of these was the battle of Mar'a-thon, 
between the Persians and the Athenians; another was the 
battle of Ther-mop'y-lae» between the Persians and the 
Spartans. Marathon was a plain lying between a line of 
hills and the sea. Just off the shore lay the Persian ships, 
and on them were chains with which the Persians expected 
to fetter the Athenians, for they had no idea that they 
would not be victorious. In the end, however, the Persians 
ran for their lives, splashing through the water to their ves- 
sels in the effort to escape from their Athenian pursuers. 
So it was that the forces of the mighty empire of Persia 



18 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 




PERSIAN OFFICER 



were driven away by those of the little state of Athens. 
One of the Greeks ran from Marathon to Athens, about 
twenty miles, to tell of the victory. That is 
why at the present day long running races 
are called "Marathons." 

Thermopylae. Ten years later, the Persians 
tried it again, and now the Spartans with a few 
other troops took their stand at the Pass of 
Thermopylae to oppose them. The mountains 
were on one side of the pass and the sea on the 
other. It was so narrow that Le-on'i-das and 
his brave three hundred thought they could 
hold it, even against so vast a number as there 
were of the Persians, and for two days of fear- 
ful fighting they did hold it. Then the Persians 
heard of a footpath over the mountains, and 
they came down upon the Spartans from the 
other side of the pass. The brave little band 
refused to save their lives by surrender, but fought even 
more fiercely than before until not a man was left alive. 

Salamis. The Greeks were as brave on sea as on land, 
and in this same war the great naval battle of Sal'a-mis 
took place. The Greek ships were in the Strait of Salamis. 
The Persians sailed in at both ends of the strait. King 
Xerxes (zerk'sez) sat on his gilded throne high up on a 
rocky hill to watch the destruction of the Greeks. His 
scribes clustered around him with tablets on which to note 
the successes of their countrymen — but there were no suc- 
cesses; there was only a sweeping victory for the Greeks. 
It is of this scene that the English poet Byron wrote, — 

"A king sat on the rocky brow 
That looks on sea-born Salamis", 
And ships, by thousands, lay below 
And men in nations; all were his; 
He counted them at break of day 
And when the sun set, where were they?" 



WHY WE REMEMBER THE GREEKS 



19 



How Athens was made beautiful. After many years of 
fighting, the Persians asked for peace. Little Greece had 
repulsed the great empire. This was not without much loss, 
however, and Athens had suffered especially. The city 
had been partially rebuilt, but the Athenians had been too 
busy to think of much except providing a shelter for them- 







ATHENS, RESTORED 

(In the distance may be seen the Acropolis, and beyond it mountains in Argolis. In the foregrounc 
are the city walls and a bridge over the Ilyssus) 

selves. Athens had become a crowded city with irregular, 
crooked streets, and little about it that was beautiful. 

The Athenians loved beautiful things. They took pains 
to make even their commonest dishes of graceful form and 
pleasing color; and the homeliness of their city gave them 
real discomfort. They were quite ready to listen to the 
proposals of Pericles (per'i-klez), one of their most success- 
ful generals, that the city should be made beautiful. An- 
other general, Cimon, had done what he could for it. He 
had planted avenues of trees and he had built near the 



20 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



market-place long porticoes where the Athenians could 
walk and talk together. Cimon was dead, but Pericles was 
very much alive and eager to make his beloved city the 
most beautiful one in Greece. He had little authority, but 
he talked to the people so quietly and sensibly and gave 
such excellent reasons for what he wished to do that they 
were ready to agree to whatever he asked. Moreover, they 
could not help seeing that he was not working in the least 
for his own glory, but for the good of the state. 




THE PARTHENON RESTORED 



The Parthenon* In Athens there was a great rock about 
one sixth of a mile long and from one hundred and fifty to 
two hundred feet high. This was the A-crop'o-lis, and in 
the early days it had been the stronghold of the city. It 
should now become the home of the goddess Athene, de- 
clared Pericles, and he set to work to rear on the Acropolis 
a group of remarkable buildings. Every one was beautiful, 
but noblest of all was the Par'the-non. This was a superb 
temple of pure white marble surrounded by a colonnade 
and a row of pillars. In the pediments — that is, the tri- 
angular spaces at either end of the roof — there were groups 
of statues, representing scenes in the life of Athene. Around 



WHY WE REMEMBER THE GREEKS 21 

the temple inside the colonnade ran a sculptured frieze. 
This represented the procession at Athene's festival, when 
a robe, richly embroidered, was presented to the goddess 
in gratitude for her care and protection. Even in ruins, as 
it is to-day, the Parthenon is a glorious building, and we 
can imagine what it was when every stone was perfect and 
the figures touched with gold and exquisitely tinted. It is 
twenty- four centuries old, but artists are constantly dis- 
covering new beauties in it. Within the temple was a statue 
of Athene, thirty-nine feet high, carved in ivory and draped 
with gold. The pupils of the eyes were probably of jewels. 
Outside, under the clear blue sky, stood another statue of 
Athene even larger than this, which was made of the bronze 
captured from the Persians at Marathon. 

The Erechtheum. The other buildings on the Acropolis 
were worthy to stand near the Parthenon. The one best 
loved by the Athenians was the Erechtheum (e-rek-the'um), 
sacred to Athene and Poseidon. Here the old statue of the 
goddess was kept, and it was to this and not to the new and 
costly one that the robe was presented each year. 

The theater. One of the most interesting structures in 
Athens was the theater. It was not a building with a roof, 
but consisted of rows upon rows of stone seats rising up the 
side of a hill, and circling about a level space where the 
plays were acted. These were written by men of great 
talent, who pictured in tragedies the lives of the gods or 
heroes, and in comedies full of jests and merriment the 
passing events of the day. The tragedies were such good 
teachers of religion and history and patriotism, and the 
comedies of such value in making people think about what 
was going on around them, that Pericles required the state 
to pay the admittance fee in order that every citizen might 
be able to see them. 

Phidias. Pericles was fortunate in finding an artist who 



22 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



could carry out his plans. This was Phid'i-as. No other 
nation has ever produced such sculptors as the Greek, and 
Phidias was the most famous of them all. It was he who 
made the statue of Athene in ivory and gold which stood on 
the Acropolis; and to him Pericles gave the direction of all 




THEATER OF DIONYSUS, RESTORED 



the artists and architects who worked to make Athens 
beautiful. He had enemies, of course, and they accused him 
of cheating in the amount of gold used in Athene's statue. 
Phidias had perhaps expected this and he had made the 
gold removable; so he quietly unfastened it, and proved 
that its weight was just what he had said. 

Myron. Another great sculptor was Myron, who was 
famous for his ability to carve figures as they look when in 
motion. He made a statue of a cow in the act of lowing 
which was later set up in the Temple of Peace at Rome. 



WHY WE REMEMBER THE GREEKS 



23 




Another of his famous works was the Thrower of the Discus, 

The young man holds the discus all ready to throw the very 

next moment, and 

one almost expects 

to see it fly from his 

hand. 

Praxiteles. Phid- 
ias produced rather 
grave, dignified fig- 
ures, but the stat- 
ues of Prax-it'e-les, 
who was almost 
equally renowned, 
are especially charm- 
ing and graceful. 
The other sculptors 
of Greece are known 
to us only through 

copies of their works, but Praxiteles's own statue of Hermes 
— the "Quicksilver" of Hawthorne's Wonder-Book — has 
come down to us. This is a statue 
of two persons, for his baby brother 
rests upon the arm of the god and 
tries to grasp something that Hermes 
is playfully holding just out of his 
reach. 

The Venus of Milo. The statue 
best known to the world is the Venus 
of Milo, so called because it was dis- 
covered on the island of Melos. It is 
of a very beautiful woman, perfect in form and feature, 
and exquisitely graceful, but no one knows its sculptor. 
Nearly all Greek statues have been broken by war and 
time and fire and earthquakes, so that we have only frag- 



HERMES WITH THE INFANT DIONYSUS 

(Discovered in 1877 at Olympia) 




HEAD OF THE VENUS OF 
MILO 



24 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

ments or copies; but even these show that they were the 
noblest the world has ever seen. 

STUDY SUGGESTIONS 

1. If you know any Greeks in this country, ask them to tell you how life 
in Greece differs from life in America. 

2. Why would ancient Greece have been a pleasant country to live in? 
Would it have been unpleasant in any way? 

3. Why should one care to cross the mountain ranges? 

4. What difference would it make to a country whether the rivers were 
like those of Greece or like those of the United States? 

5. Why can you sail better if you know which way is north? 

6. How would it affect your home town if it was shut off from all others? 

7. Judging from the Greek stories, what sort of men did they regard as 
heroes? 

8. What sort of men do we regard as heroes to-day? 

9. In these stories of gods and heroes, are there any scenes that would 
make good pictures? 

10. If you know any picture of Greeks running a race, notice whether 
their position is like that of the runners of to-day. 

11. Tell the story of Marathon or Thermopylae or Salamis as if you were 
a Greek. Then tell it as if you were a Persian. 

12. Imagine you are Pericles, and make a speech telling the Athenians 
why they ought to beautify their city. 

53. What could be done to beautify the place in which you live? 

14. Do you know any building that is in any respect like the Parthenon? 

15. What are the advantages and the disadvantages of having plays 
acted out of doors? 

16. Why should the image of a cow be chosen for the Temple of Peace? 

17. Which one of the Greeks or their heroes do you regard as the greatest 
man? Why? 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

A Greek boy describes his country to an American boy. 

Jason tells the story of the golden fleece. 

One of the Greeks who were in the wooden horse tells his little son of the 

capture of Troy. 
A Persian describes the battle of Marathon. 
A visit to the Parthenon. 



CHAPTER III 

THE GREEKS AT HOME AND ABROAD 

How children were brought up in Sparta. The two states 
of Greece which were most unlike were Sparta and Athens. 
In Sparta, if a baby was weak and sickly when born, it was 
put out on a mountain to perish. A boy who was well and 
strong was left with his mother till he was seven years old. 
Then he was put into the charge of the state. Rather a 
hard life the little fellows led. No matter how cold it was, 
they were allowed to wear but little clothing, perhaps none 
at all, in order to make them tough. Their beds were only 
reeds from the river, but as a luxury they were permitted in 
winter to cover them lightly with thistledown. Their food 
was always scanty, and if they wanted more, they must 
steal it, and just as slyly as if they were in an enemy's 
country. If they succeeded, they were praised; if they were 
found out, they were whipped. Indeed, there was a great 
deal of whipping in their bringing-up, for the plan was to 
make them despise pain. Once a year they were publicly 
flogged before one of the altars, and it is said that a boy 
once died rather than cry out for mercy. 

The boys learned reading, writing, and perhaps a little 
arithmetic, but physical training was thought to be far 
more important. Therefore they were practiced continually 
in running, jumping, and wrestling, and every little while 
they held sham battles. They were not required to fight 
fairly, but only to win, and they bit and kicked as much as 
they liked. From seven to thirty years of age, the Spartan 
was in training for the army; from thirty to sixty, he spent 



26 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



his time either fighting or drilling and keeping himself in 
trim for warfare. He ate coarse food, especially a certain 
black bean soup. An Athenian visitor on tasting it said, 
" I don't wonder the Spartans are brave in battle, for any 
one would rather die than live on such fare." 

How children were brought up in Athens. In Athens 
little children learned first the charming stories of gods and 
heroes. At seven the boys were sent 
to school, and there they were taught 
to read clearly and distinctly the 
works of the greatest Greek writers, 
such as the Iliad and the Odyssey, 
and to appreciate and enjoy them. 
They learned also to play on the lute 
and the lyre, to join in battle-songs, 
in choruses in honor of the gods, and 
in the simple songs that helped to 
make everyday life cheery and happy. 
The bodies of the boys were as care- 
fully trained as in Sparta, though 
not so harshly. Boys learned to run, 
leap, wrestle, throw the javelin and 
the discus. They were taught, of 
course, to win in their games if they 
could, but in any case to do their best to make their bodies 
strong and to carry themselves with dignity and grace. 
The average Spartan was a soldier and nothing more ; the 
average Athenian was just as good a soldier, and he was 
also a well-educated man. 

Girls were taught little in either country save what they 
learned from their mothers at home; that is, how to spin, 
weave, and care for a household. In Sparta they learned 
to throw quoits, to run, and to wrestle, and in general to 
make their bodies strong by exercise. 




A GREEK BOY 



THE GREEKS AT HOME AND ABROAD 



27 




GREEK GIRLS PLAYING BALL 



Leighton 



The plays of Greek children. The life of Greek children 
was not all training by any means, for they played many 
of the games of to- 
day, such as hide 
and seek and blind 
man's buff. They 
had playthings, such 
as balls and hoops 
and swings. " If 
you do not give 
children toys, they 
will break things in 
the house," said one 
learned man, and another was famous for inventing the 
rattle. 

The Olympic games. Besides warfare, there was another 
strong reason for physical training, and that was the 
O-lym'pic games, celebrated every five years in honor of 
the gods. People came in great crowds, bringing their food 
with them. Athletes, trainers, and umpires had to swear 
that they were of pure Greek blood and would obey all 
rules. The games consisted of racing, wrestling, leaping, 
throwing of quoits, and the hurling of javelins. Last of all 
came the famous races of four-horse chariots. After the 
contests came the day of rewarding the victors. The reward 
was only a wreath of olive leaves; but the glory that fol- 
lowed was no small matter. The countrymen of a victor 
offered sacrifices to the gods and formed processions in his 
honor; they gave banquets, often they set up a statue of the 
successful man. They took him home in a splendid chariot; 
and then came celebrations in his home town, and admira- 
tion that lasted as long as he lived. For more than a thou- 
sand years these games continued. They did a great deal 
to make the Greeks feel that they had interests in common. 



28 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



just as the separation of the states did to make them feel 
that their interests were separate. 

The city and its citizens. A Greek " city " or "state " con- 
sisted of three parts. First, there were the homes of several 
thousand people, surrounded by a wall; beyond the wall 
were farms and gardens; and beyond these the rest of the 
valley or plain held by the people and bounded by either 




Knille 



THE OLYMPIA FOOT-RACE 



mountains or the sea. The Greeks enjoyed being independ- 
ent and ruling themselves. At eighteen, or even sixteen, 
each young Greek took a solemn oath to obey the laws and 
religion of his state and to defend her in case of need. He 
then became a member of the assembly of citizens. This 
met in the open air, on a hillside probably not far from the 
Acropolis. It was called the pnyx (nix), which means 
crowded, an excellent name, for at least six thousand per- 
sons had to be present before any vote could be taken. 



THE GREEKS AT HOME AND ABROAD 



29 



The pnyx. The pnyx was in the form of a half-circle. 
One side was a rocky wall, and out of this had been carved 
a platform from which the orators spoke. Oratory is always 
important in a republic, for to win his own way a man must 
know how to convince his fellow citizens. The danger is, 
however, that a talented speaker may induce them to do 




THE ACROPOLIS OF ATHENS 
(As it appeared at the height of Athens's glory) 



wrong; for instance, when one of the Athenian colonies 
revolted, one Cleon persuaded the assembly by his skill in 
speaking to vote that all the men in the colony should be 
slain and all the women and children sold as slaves. Fortu- 
nately, the Athenians came to their senses on the next day 
and sent out a swift vessel to countermand the savage 
edict. From this platform in the pnyx, Pericles often spoke. 
At one time, when war seemed to be forced upon Athens, he 
said : — 



30 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



"We will not begin war, but we will resist those who do 
begin it. We must make up our minds that we cannot 
escape this war, and the more cheerfully we accept it, the 
less violent will be the attacks of our enemies. When our 
fathers bore up against the Persians, — even though they 
had no such wealth and power as we possess, — they re- 
pelled the invaders. We 
must not fall short of them. 
We must drive away our 
enemies and leave the state 
to those who will follow us 
in as good condition as we 
received it." 

The philosophers Plato 
and Socrates. The Greeks 
were brave soldiers, but 
their philosophers, or "lov- 
ers of wisdom," as the 
word means, were equally 
great as thinkers. The most 
famous was Plato, who 
taught his pupils in a beau- 
tiful grove near the city of 
Athens. Another philosopher was Soc'ra-tes, a homely, awk- 
ward, kindly, lovable man with a brilliant mind. A story 
told of him says that when one Glaukon (gla/kon) was try- 
ing to get a political position, Socrates said, "If you wish 
to be so honored by your city, of course you mean to pro- 
mote its welfare?" "Certainly," said Glaukon. "But do 
you know the city's income, its expenses, and whether it is 
well guarded?" Glaukon had to answer no. "To manage 
even one household," said Socrates quietly, "requires knowl- 
edge of such matters. Would it not be well for you to take 
charge first of your uncle's large household?" "I would 



■ 








•&* 








.^"-V 








m 


r ^^^ 






' i f 




1 W'W 








^w """w 


/ 


f 




W 1 


I '-. t 







SOCRATES 

(From a bust in the Vatican Gallery at Rome) 



THE GREEKS AT HOME AND ABROAD 31 

gladly," replied Glaukon, "but he will not let me." "And 
although you cannot persuade your uncle to let you man- 
age one house," retorted the philosopher, "you think you 
can persuade the whole body of the Athenians, your uncle 
among them, to let you manage their city!" 

The death of Socrates. This was Socrates' fashion of ask- 
ing questions of a man till his own answers had shown his 
folly. He believed in God, but he did not always show rever- 
ence to the numerous gods of the city, and he was at length 
accused by his enemies of giving false teachings to its young 
men and was condemned to drink poison. He spent his last 
day talking cheerfully about the everlasting life into which 
he was to enter; then, when the jailer brought the cup of 
poison, he took it quietly, prayed that his journey to the 
other world might be prosperous, and drank the poison 
calmly and serenely. 

The greatness of the Greeks. A wonderful people were 
the Greeks. Their form of government is in great degree 
still believed to be excellent. The writings of their philoso- 
phers are still eagerly studied. Their literature has never 
been surpassed. Their sculptures are still looked upon as 
models of perfection. Their buildings are still the admira- 
tion of the world. Even more wonderful is it that the ideas 
of the folk of this tiny country should have gone all over 
the world, and that even here in America, on a continent 
which the pe'ople of Greece never heard of, we should in 
many respects think and act as we do, because it was the 
way the Greeks thought and acted before us. 

How Greek customs spread. How were Greek customs 
spread abroad so widely? There are three answers to this 
question; namely, by sailors and traders, by colonists, and 
by war. On three sides of Greece were islands, ever tempt- 
ing the Greeks to sail forth on the sea. They were fond of 
adventure and they thoroughly enjoyed sailing farther and 



32 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 




farther — or rather sailing and rowing, for, although the 
ships had sails, they were also driven forward by oars. The 
warships were called "triremes," because they had three 
banks of oars, one above another. Sometimes they had 
even more than this. Slaves sat on benches and did the 
rowing. At the bow was a sharp, strong "beak" which 
could be driven into the side of an enemy's vessel. Boats 

for carrying freight were 
heavier and could endure 
storms better. 

The Greeks on the 
Black Sea. In these ships 
the Greeks went out to 
trade with other peoples. 
One thing that they 
especially wanted was 
wheat, and therefore they 
went often to the shores 
of the Black Sea, because much wheat was raised there. 
This voyage was at first a perilous adventure, and it is 
probable that the account of it became little by little the 
legend of the golden fleece. The Black Sea was a some- 
what dangerous piece of water, even for sailors of experi- 
ence. The Greeks often gave a flattering name to any- 
thing that they thought might injure them, in the hope 
that it, or the gods who ruled it, would make it less dis- 
posed to harm them, and possibly that is why they called 
the inhospitable Black Sea by the name of Euxine, or the 
hospitable. 

Greek colonies. Trading naturally grew into colonizing, 
for the Greeks were good emigrants. If a group of men were 
poor or discontented at home or their city became too 
crowded for comfort, they were often ready to sail away and 
make their homes in a new country. Their first thought 



GREEK SAILING VESSEL 



THE GREEKS AT HOME AND ABROAD 



33 



would be to go to the places where trading-posts had already 
been established, such as points around the Black Sea and 
in Asia Minor, directly east of Greece; but following around 
the shores of the Mediterranean, the colonies seem to have 
been almost everywhere. The island of Cy'prus had its 
Greek settlements. In Egypt there was the Greek Nau- 
cratis (na'kra-tis) at the mouth of the Nile. Farther west 
was Cy-re'ne ; then crossing over to the island of Sicily, Syra- 
cuse and other colonies made the island almost as Greek 
as Greece itself. Greek 
colonies were on the 
shores of the Adriatic 
Sea, and there were so 
many in southwestern 
Italy that the shore 
was known as Magna 
Gra^cia, or Great 
Greece. Mas-sil'i-a, or 
Marseilles, was at the 
mouth of the Rhone 
River. Indeed, a map 
of the Mediterranean 

in ancient times looks as if its shores were peppered with 
Greek colonies. 

Of course the colonists had no thought of spreading the 
knowledge and customs of Greece. Nevertheless, they 
never forgot their early home. When they left it, they 
carried with them fire from a Greek altar to kindle the 
temple fire in the new land. Even if they were far more 
prosperous and free than they had been "at home," they 
kept up a friendly feeling for the mother country, and they 
worshiped the same gods. Naturally, they followed tht 
same ways of living and thinking as in Greece, and these 
were rapidly learned and imitated by the peoples around 




GREEK WARRIORS 



34 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

them. Sicily, for instance, became so completely Greek that 
not a word of any other language was to be heard in the 
island. 

Greek customs spread by the wars of Alexander the 
Great. Knowledge of Greek ways was also spread by war, 




ASIATIC CAMPAIGNS 
(Dotted line shows route of the Ten Thousand; unbroken line, Alexander's march) 

and the man who did most to bring this about was Alexander 
the Great, whose father had made all Greece yield to his 
power. Alexander had spent much of his boyhood in 
Greece. One of the stories told of him as a child is of his 
receiving some Persian ambassadors in his father's absence. 
He began like a grown man to question them about their 
country. "What sort of man is your king?" he asked. "How 
does he treat his enemies? Is Persia strong because she has 
much gold or a large army? " These Persians never dreamed 
that a few years later this small boy would invade their 
country, but this he did. He conquered the Persians, freed 
Egypt from their rule, and, wild with a madness for con- 



THE GREEKS AT HOME AND ABROAD 35 

quest, pushed on through Asia to India. He destroyed cities 
and founded cities, naming one for his horse Bucephalus and 
a number for himself. Many Greeks went to live in these 
places, and so the Greek language and habits spread very 
widely. The most famous of the cities was Alexandria at 
the mouth of the Nile. After the death of Alexander, this 
fell into the hands of Ptolemy (tol'e-mi) , one of his generals, 
and for nearly three hundred years he and his descendants 
ruled in Egypt. This was many centuries before people 
learned that they could reach India by sailing around 
Africa, and much of the trade of Asia and the Mediter- 
ranean cities was carried on here. 

The work of the Ptolemies. The Ptolemies, however, 
were eager to have Alexandria the center of learning. They 
founded the famous Alexandrian Library, which grew to 
contain more than five hundred thousand manuscripts, the 
writings of the Greeks and Romans. They also founded the 
Museum, as it was called, though it was more like a college 
or university. This contained rooms for art, for lectures, for 
study, and even living-rooms for the use of the poets and 
learned men who were induced by gifts and honors to dwell in 
the city. One of these learned men was a student named 
Ptolemy. He was convinced that the earth was round, and 
his teachings did much to persuade Columbus that it was 
worth while to sail boldly out into the Atlantic. Before this, 
Greek ideas and customs had spread chiefly to the westward ; 
Alexander introduced them to Egypt and western Asia. 

The value of the story of the Greeks. From the Greeks 
there have come down to us lessons of bravery and love of 
country, beautiful myths, plays, poems, and orations. They 
have left us fragments of wonderful statues and temples. 
Best of all, they have left us their own story, and from this 
we can see the causes of their failures and their successes. 



36 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



STUDY SUGGESTIONS 

i . What was good and what was not good in the training of the Spartan 
boys? 

2. In what respects was the training of the Athenian boys better? 

3. What do you think of the speech of the learned man about toys? 
How should you reply to it? 

4. Describe a visit to the pnyx. 

5. Tell the story of Glaukon's visit to Socrates as Glaukon himself 
might have told it. 

6. How do the ideas of one child become known to other children? How 
do the ideas of one country become known to other countries? 

7. Had the Greeks good reasons for emigrating? 

8. Imagine that you are an ancient Greek and tell why you became a 
colonist. 

9. What is the advantage of having a free public library? 

10. Should you rather live in a place where there were learned men or 
not? Why? 

11. What part of the Greek story do you think best worth remembering? 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

A Spartan boy and an Athenian boy describe to each other their way of 

living. 
A visit to the Olympian games. 

Glaukon tells a friend of his interview with Socrates. 
A Greek voyage to the Black Sea. 
A Persian ambassador describes his reception by the child Alexander. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE EARLY DAYS OF ROME 

• 

The geography of Italy. Lying to the west of Greece was 
the long peninsula of Italy, the lower part shaped like a 
boot drawn back to kick the football Sicily. Geographically 
it was as different from Greece as a country could well be. 
It had mountains, plenty of them, but instead of running in 
all directions, with ranges tangled and confused, there was 
one orderly range, the Apennines, which ran the whole 
length of the country and even into the island of Sicily. 
The mountain chains of Greece seemed to be formed to 
keep tribes apart, but not so with the Ap'en-nines, for 
there were many passes by means of which the people on 
either side could make friendly visits to each other, if they 
felt so inclined. About halfway down the peninsula the 
range spread out into broad highlands, and here lived in 
early days a race of strong, bold folk, who delighted in 
dashing down upon the tribes between them and the sea, 
and plundering them. On either side of the Apennines was 
a long strip of land, lying between the mountains and the 
coast. The strip on the west side was rich and fertile; that 
on the east was not nearly so good, and was much narrower. 

The rivers of Italy. Italy has many rivers, and one, the 
Po, is navigable for several hundred miles. The others are 
small and short, especially those on the eastern side of the 
mountains. Like the rivers of Greece, the beds of most of 
the rivers of Italy are dry in the summer, and even if they 
were large enough to be of any use for navigation, it would 
be for only part of the year. The Ti'ber is the largest stream 



38 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

on the western side of the Apennines, and was for many 
centuries the most famous river in the world. 

The coast-line of Italy. The coast-line of Italy is entirely 
different from that of Greece. The country of the Greeks is 
cut up by deep bays and has many excellent harbors, espe- 
cially on the eastern side. The shore of Italy is only slightly 
broken by harbors, and on the Adriatic side there is but one 
that is of real value. The harbors of Greece, then, are on her 
eastern coast, those of Italy on her western, and so the two 
countries are, as has been said, not face to face, but back to 
back. This would have made it in any case less easy for 
them to become acquainted, but the Greeks would prob- 
ably have had small interest in the rough community that 
was beginning to establish itself on the Tiber about the 
time when Alexander was at the height of his glory. 

The three races of early Italy. Most of the dwellers in 
early Italy belonged to some one of three races. These were 
the descendants of the Greek colonists; the E-trus'cans, 
who lived along the northwestern coast; and the Latins, 
who lived south of the Etruscans. These Etruscans were a 
wealthy race who liked good times, handsome clothes, and 
plenty of jewelry. They understood how to make stout 
walls that would not crumble, how to drain their land with 
well-built tunnels, and how to make strong dikes to keep 
back the waters of the Mediterranean. Their alphabet is so 
much like the Greek alphabet that it, as well as the rest of 
the knowledge of the Etruscans, probably came from the 
Greeks. The Italian races, living in the central part of the 
peninsula, came from the same ancient family of nations 
as the Greeks, and when they made their way into Italy, 
they brought with them the customs of the Greeks and the 
worship of the same gods. A small part of the Italian pos- 
sessions, known as Latium (la'shi-um), lay to the south of 
the Tiber. It seems to have been in early days the least 



THE EARLY DAYS OF ROME 



39 



powerful part; and no one would have dreamed that its 
inhabitants, the Latins, could found a city that would one 
day rule the world. 

Legend of the founding of Rome. This city of Latium 
was Rome. The Roman legend of its founding was 
that after the fall of Troy a Trojan prince named ^Eneas 
(e-ne'as) fled from the ruins 
of the city with his little 
boy Ascanius and the others 
of his family together with 
the household gods, and 
after many adventures on 
water and on land, made 
his way to Latium. King 
La-ti'nusof Latium received 
him kindly and gave him 
his daughter Lavinia in 
marriage. Before long, La- 
tinus was slain in battle, 
and now ^neas became 
ruler of the people of Latium 
as well as of his Trojan fol- 
lowers. He called them all 
Latins. 

After the death of i^Eneas, 
Ascanius and a long line of his descendants reigned. Then 
it came to pass that the brother of Nu'mi-tor, the right- 
ful king, stole the kingdom. Numitor's daughter, Rhe'a 
SilVi-a, had twin sons, whose father was the war god 
Mars. The wicked brother ordered them to be thrown 
into the Tiber. Fortunately, the Tiber was in flood, and 
when the waters fell back, the babies were left on dry 
ground. Of course they cried, and a wolf came to them 
and nursed them as if they were young wolves. At length a 




Raphael 



FLIGHT OF /ENEAS 
(From a painting in the Vatican at Rome) 



40 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

shepherd discovered them, carried them home, and brought 
them up. When they were old enough, they restored the 
kingdom to their grandfather and slew his wicked brother. 
Then they set to work to build themselves a city near the 
place where they had been thrown into the river. Unluck- 
ily, they had a quarrel, and in a moment of rage, Rom'u-lus 
killed his brother Remus. He named his city Rome and 




Camuccini 
HORATIUS KEEPING THE BRIDGE 

ruled there for many years, but he deeply mourned the loss 
of his brother, and the story says he had a double throne 
made, one seat of which was always vacant in memory of 
Remus. 

Horatius at the bridge. Many other legends have been 
handed down about the early days of Rome. One of the 
most famous is that of Horatius at the bridge. It seems 
that one Tarquin became king and was such a tyrant that 
the Romans finally drove him and all his relations into 



THE EARLY DAYS OF ROME 41 

exile. He induced some of the Etruscans to come to his aid. 
When their army drew near to Rome, the Romans rushed 
out to meet them, but were driven back over the narrow 
bridge across the Tiber. The Etruscans were in close pursuit, 
and unless the bridge could be destroyed, the city was lost. 
Then cried Horatius, "Let but two others stand beside me, 
and we will hold the army at bay till the bridge is cut down! " 
So, like the Greeks at Thermopylae, the three brave men 
took their stand at the farther end of the bridge; and they 
did hold the army back till the bridge began to fall. "Go 
back!" called Horatius to his friends, but not until the 
bridge was falling did he himself stir from his place. Then 
he leaped into the Tiber, and with a prayer to the god of the 
river he struck out boldly and reached the other shore. 
Rome was saved. His countrymen gave him as much of the 
public land as two strong oxen could plough in a day, and 
they set up in the public square a statue of him in his armor, 
" plain for all folk to see." 

Coriolanus and his mother. Another story was that of 
Co-ri-o-la'nus. He was a brave soldier who had done much 
for Rome, but he was accused of having broken an agree- 
ment with some of the Roman people, and they were 
so angry with him that he had to flee from Rome. He was 
thoroughly indignant, so indignant that he went straight 
to the Volscians (vol'sianz), enemies of the Romans, and 
offered to lead their troops against Rome. When his army 
was before the city, first an embassy from the senate and 
then the priests came to beg for peace, but Coriolanus 
refused. Then came his mother, his wife, and their two 
sons, followed by a company of Roman women. Coriolanus 
was about to throw his arms about his mother, but she 
drew back and demanded sternly: "Do you come here as 
my son or as the enemy of Rome? Would that I had never 
had a son; then Rome would not be in peril!" Coriolanus 



42 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



could not endure his mother's entreaties. "Mother," he 
said, "you have saved Rome, but you have lost your son." 
He withdrew the army and returned to the Volsci. It was 
said that they put him to death, as he had expected. 




Vignon 
CORIOLANUS YIELDS TO HIS MOTHER'S PRAYERS 

The truth of the Roman legends. These are some of the 
legends that grew up about Rome in its early days. In one 
way, they are not true; for instance, it is hardly probable 
that three men at the end of a little footbridge could stop 
the advance of an army. In another way, they are entirely 
true ; for the fact that these legends grew up and were loved 
by the Romans shows how highly they thought of bravery 
and patriotism, and, as in the story of Coriolanus, what 
respect was shown to the prayers of a mother. 

How Rome was founded. There are, however, a few facts 
in regard to the founding of Rome of which we may be sure. 
Not far from the mouth of the Tiber there was a group of 
low hills, and about one of them a tiny settlement was 



THE EARLY DAYS OF ROME 43 

formed. The top of this hill was, like the Acropolis in early 
times, the stronghold of the people, and some of them lived 
within its walls. There were the usual quarrels and fighting 
with their neighbors, but at length, the little settlement 
and two others like it united. 

Cincinnatus. The Greeks had been devoted, each group 
to its own state, but they wasted their strength in struggles 
with one another. The Romans did better, for they made 
themselves strong by union. In every difficulty there was 
usually some resourceful man who could find a way out. One 
legend tells the tale of their army being shut up by enemies 
into a narrow valley. The Romans believed that Cin-cin- 
na'tus, who cultivated a little farm across the river, could 
plan some way to save them, and the senate sent messen- 
gers to him. He left his plough in the field and went to 
Rome. He ordered the Romans to come together, each one 
with weapons, food for five days, and twelve long, sharp 
stakes. They all set off, and at midnight were arranged in 
a circle about the camp of the enemy. Cincinnatus com- 
manded that at a signal every man should dig a trench in 
front of him and also drive down his twelve stakes. In the 
morning the enemy found themselves shut in by a ditch, a 
palisade, and a line of soldiers. They surrendered. It was 
in honor of Cincinnatus that the American Society of the 
Cincinnati was named. Its members are descendants of the 
officers of the Revolutionary War, who left their homes, as 
Cincinnatus did, to fight for their country. 

The Caudine Forks. Brave as they were, the Romans 
were not always successful. At the Caudine (ka'din) Forks, 
they were shut into a narrow valley, and this time they 
were all taken prisoners. "What shall I do with them?" 
the commander of the enemy asked his wise old father. 
" Either kill every man of them and so weaken the Romans," 
was his reply, "or else let every one go free, and so make 



44 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



friends of the Romans." Unluckily, the young commander 
thought that he knew best, and he made them give up their 
weapons and pass "under the yoke"; that is, under a hori- 
zontal spear bound to two upright spears. This was a great 
disgrace, and the Romans went home humiliated, but more 




Gleyre 



ROMAN ARMY PASSING UNDER THE YOKE 



ready for bitter righting than ever. Not long after this, they 
took seven thousand prisoners, and in retaliation made 
every one of them pass under the yoke. 

Why there was warfare between Rome and Carthage. 
The most amazing thing in the history of Rome is that a 
little group of tiny villages should in the course of perhaps 
a thousand years have become ruler of the world. Gradu- 
ally Rome overcame the country about her, until all of 
Italy was in her power, even the wealthy Greek colonies 
in the south. In some of their difficulties the Sicilian 



THE EARLY DAYS OF ROME 



45 



Greek colonies had asked the help of Carthage, a rich and 
powerful trading city on the African coast, and Carthage 
had gained possession of nearly all Sicily. These two cities 
were afraid and jealous of each other, and for two hundred 
and fifty years there were long periods of warfare between 
them. 

Hannibal enters Italy. The most skillful Carthaginian 
general whom the Romans had to meet was Han'ni-bal. His 
father had fought against the Romans, and when Hannibal 
was a small boy, he had bidden the child lay his hand upon 
the altar and make the solemn promise, " I will always hate 




HANNIBAL CROSSING THE RHONE 



the Romans." When Hannibal was old enough, he was put 
in command of the Carthaginian troops. One of his most 
famous exploits was the march which he and his thousands 
of men and his thirty-seven war elephants made from Spain 
to Italy. Even when he came to the wide and rapid river 



4 6 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



Rhone, he did not hesitate, but made rafts for the elephants, 
and boats of all sorts, no matter what, if they would only 
carry soldiers; and then, in spite of the savages who were 
on the opposite shore with their weapons, he marched up 
the bank and pushed on to the Alps. Here were precipices 
with enemies at the top rolling great stones down upon the 
path or hurling javelins upon the toiling men below; here 




HANNIBAL CROSSING THE ALPS 



were ice and snow and slush, storms and avalanches and 
bitter cold. The paths, when there were any, were slippery 
and steep and often had to be widened for the elephants ; but 
Hannibal would not yield, and at last he was in Italy. 

Hannibal at the Trebia and at Lake Trasimenus. Han- 
nibal knew well how to lead his enemies into a trap. At the 
river Tre'bi-a the Romans marched out to meet him, crossed 
the river and stood in line. Hannibal drove back the light 



THE EARLY DAYS OF ROME 47 

infantry and the cavalry, but the Romans still expected 
their heavy infantry to win the day. They marched on con- 
fidently, but suddenly there was an alarm. Back of the 
heavy infantry, hidden in the dry bed of a little stream, were 
two thousand picked Carthaginian soldiers. The Romans 
were between two bands of enemies. Some escaped, many 
were slain. Such a defeat Rome had not known for a cen- 
tury. At Lake Tras-i-me'nus again, Hannibal led the Ro- 
mans into a trap. It was a misty morning; the heights were 
clear, but the lowlands were thick with fog. Through this 
fog the Romans pushed on in pursuit of the Carthaginians; 
but no Carthaginians were to be seen. Suddenly there were 
war cries all around them. Great stones crashed down upon 
them on one side and a storm of javelins on the other. Out 
of the mist rushed the troops of Hannibal and the Gauls, his 
allies. The mass of the Roman army was penned into a 
valley and was slaughtered. 

Hannibal and the oxen, at Cannae. Hannibal could not 
only lead his foes into a trap, but he could find a way to get 
his own men out of one. He, too, was once caught in a val- 
ley ; but he is said to have tied burning torches to the horns 
of two thousand oxen and to have driven them up a moun- 
tain in the night. The Romans left the passes and rushed up 
hill after them, supposing the Carthaginians were escap- 
ing, while Hannibal and his men marched cheerfully away 
through a pass. Another Carthaginian victory was at 
Cannae (kan'e) ; and when Hannibal's brother told the Car- 
thaginians how completely their enemies had been routed, 
they would not believe his story until he poured out a peck 
of gold rings and said, " These are from the fingers of the 
Roman nobles who were slain at Cannae." 

The Roman conquests. Neither Cannae nor any other 
defeat would make the Romans give up, and finally the 
Carthaginians were conquered at Zama, and Carthage was 



4 8 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 




burned. This occurred in 146 B.C., and in that same year 
the Romans completed the conquest of Greece. After a few 
more years, Rome was ruler of Italy, part of Austria, part 
of Turkey, Greece, part of Asia Minor, Syria, Judaea, about 
half of northern Africa along the coast, 
and nearly all of the Mediterranean 
islands. 

How Rome treated her conquests. 
These lands became Roman in more 
than name. When they conquered a 
district, part of the land was always 
given to Romans who wished to live 
on it and use it for farms. The people 
around them were not only ruled by 
Roman law, but they learned Roman 
customs and soon talked Latin. It 
was made difficult for the different 
places to have much to do with each 
other, but easy for them to have 
Citizenship was given to many of the 
conquered folk, and they soon came to feel almost as if they 
had been born in Rome. 

What the Romans had learned from the Greeks. In mak- 
ing all these conquests the Romans had learned some things 
that were of great value. They could not help seeing how 
superior the Greeks were to themselves in many ways, and 
now it became the fashion to learn Greek. Every young 
man who wished to be called educated must be familiar with 
Homer and other Greek poets, and he was expected to pass 
some time in Greece studying. Even those who did not go 
to Greece were not shut off from Greek learning ; for Greeks 
were brought to Rome as slaves, and in those times although 
by fortune of war a man had become a captive, he was 
quite as likely to be a well educated man as his master. The 



ROMAN SOLDIERS WITH 
SHIELDS 
(From Column of Trajan) 

dealings with Rome. 



THE EARLY DAYS OF ROME 



49 



Romans saw how the Greeks loved beauty, and they began 
to rear stately buildings and to adorn them with statues and 
carvings and paintings. Their admiration for these beauti- 
ful things may have been honest, but their way of obtaining 
them was not, for they simply took them from whatever 
place they conquered and brought them to Rome. 

What the Romans had learned from their warfare. The 
Romans had also learned some things from their long years 
of warfare that were exceedingly bad. They had learned the 
idle, luxurious ways 
of the East; and 
now that their con- 
quests had brought 
so many slaves to 
Rome, any man with 
even a very small 
fortune could have 
as many to wait on 
him as he pleased. 
Not many Romans 
would now have 
been as ready as 
Horatius to risk 
their lives for their 
country; most of 

them would have preferred to go to a feast and pay some 
one else for holding the bridge. Then, too, the Romans had 
always been inclined to be stern, and now they had be- 
come not only stern but cruel, even in their amusements. 
Plays from the Greek had been acted in Rome, and Latin 
plays composed, but the Romans wanted to see real fighting 
and bloodshed, and they delighted in gladiatorial shows in 
which wild beasts fought other beasts and also men. 




VICTORIOUS GENERAL THANKING HIS ARMY 



5 o ' OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



STUDY SUGGESTIONS 

1. Why was the Tiber famous? Do you know any other rivers that are 
famous? What river is nearest to your home? 

2. Can you tell from the map what Ascanius might have found interest- 
ing on his voyage to Rome? 

3. Imagine that you are the shepherd who found Romulus and Remus, 
and tell the story of their discovery. 

4. Read Macaulay's poem, Horatius at the Bridge, and then tell the 
story of the exploit. 

5. Did Coriolanus do right? 

6. Do you know any stories about heroes beside those just read in this 
book? 

7. Why were the Romans wise in founding their city on hills? 

8. Do you think your own city or village is well located? Why? 

9. Do you see anything improbable in the story of Cincinnatus? 

10. What would have been the wisest course for the commander at the 
Caudine Forks? 

11. Could Rome and Carthage have pursued any better course than to 
become enemies? 

12. Describe Hannibal's crossing the river and climbing the Alps as if 
you had seen the exploits. 

13. Why should Rome have wished to conquer the countries around the 
Mediterranean Sea rather than to press directly north? 

14. Were the Romans wise or unwise in their treatment of conquered dis- 
tricts? 

15. What harm is there in being idle and luxurious? 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

One who was present tells the story of Horatius at the bridge. 
One of Hannibal's soldiers described the march to Italy. 
Hannibal's brother tells the story of Cannae. 



CHAPTER V 

ROME BECOMES AN EMPIRE 

The Romans overcome Gaul. When Alexander the Great 
conquered the lands at the east of the Mediterranean, he 
thus opened the way for settlements and for the spread of 
Greek ways of thinking and living. As has been seen, the 
Romans had learned from the Greeks, and by Roman con- 
quests many of these ideas and ways had been spread in the 
countries around the Mediterranean. The Romans did not 
stop at this, but went on with their victories. About one 
hundred years after the fall of Carthage, they overcame 
Gaul, the country which is now called France. Long before 
this the Gauls, ancestors of the French, tall, savage fighters, 
had once dashed down upon Rome and burned the city. 
There had been more or less trouble with them since then, 
and in the wars with Carthage they had helped the Car- 
thaginians. Fifty-eight years before the birth of Christ, a 
brilliant young Roman commander called Julius Caesar set 
forth against them. They were not easy folk to conquer, 
and he had to make eight campaigns before they were sub- 
dued. At the head of the tribe that resisted him longest was 
a prince named Vercingetorix (ver-sin-jet'o-riks) by whom 
Caesar was repulsed again and again. The last struggle was 
to win the hill town of Alesia (a-le'shi-a). Caesar besieged 
the town, and tribes from all around besieged him. At 
length the provisions of Alesia gave out, and the brave 
Vercingetorix was forced to surrender. He was taken to 
Rome, was made to walk in the triumphal procession of 
captives and wagons of treasure, and was then put to death. 



52 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

Gaul was now subdued and adopted the language, laws, 
and customs of the Romans. 

Caesar routs the Germans. On the right side of the river 
Rhine dwelt another folk, the Germans. A-ri-o-vis'tus, a 
German leader, had been asked by some of the Gauls to 
come and help them in a quarrel with another tribe. He 
came, liked their land, and refused to go away. The Gauls 
appealed to Caesar, and he requested Ariovistus to come to 
him. If I had anything to say to you, I should come to 
you," was the young man's independent message in return, 
" and if you have anything to say to me, you may come to 
me." The Roman soldiers, brave as they were, drew back 
at the thought of fighting the Germans, and would have 
gladly returned to Italy, for these Germans were even taller 
and fiercer in their appearance than the Gauls. Caesar re- 
minded them of their recent victories, and closed by saying 
that if they would not follow him, he would go alone with 
his Tenth Legion, for them he could trust. The army fol- 
lowed, and in seven days they came to the camp of Ariovis- 
tus. "What are you here for?" demanded Ariovistus. 
"This part of Gaul belongs to me, just as much as the far- 
ther part belongs to you." Of course fighting followed. 
The Germans were completely routed and fled across the 
Rhine. 

Caesar's bridge. The Rhine was wide and deep and the 
current was strong, but Caesar decided that it would be wise 
for him to prove to the Germans how easily he could come 
down upon them if he chose, so he set to work and in ten 
days he had built of piles a remarkable bridge, strong but 
light and easily removed. Across this he marched. He 
avenged the injuries done to one tribe and rescued another 
from siege ; then he marched back and tore down the bridge. 
He had made Ariovistus understand the power of Rome. 

Caesar's first visit to Britain. In some of these campaigns, 



ROME BECOMES AN EMPIRE 



53 



Caesar had found that his foes were receiving help from a 
country whose white cliffs he could see from the shores of 
what is now Dover Strait, and he felt sure that Gaul would 
never remain quiet unless the people across the strait were 
made subject to Roman rule. For a long while tin had been 
sent to the Mediterranean from this mysterious country, 




THE LANDING OF CESAR 



but little was known about it. Caesar sailed across, but 
found the cliffs lined with fighting men who threw javelins 
down upon his troops and even waded out into the water 
to attack them. It was rather a difficult matter for the Ro- 
mans to leap into the waves, weighed down with heavy 
armor as they were, and fight at the same time, and it is no 
wonder that they hesitated. Suddenly the standard-bearer 
of the Tenth Legion sprang into the sea, calling, "Jump, if 
you do not want to lose your eagle! " They all followed him, 
for it would have been a terrible disgrace to lose the golden 
eagle which was their standard. 

Caesar's second visit to Britain. Nothing special was ac- 



54 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



complished by Caesar's visit, but the following year he came 
again and made some of the British chiefs yield to him. He 
wrote what he could learn of the country in his book on the 
conquest of Gaul. He said that the Britons were strange- 
looking folk with their long hair and their bodies painted 




STONEHENGE 



blue. Their priests or Druids had great power in* the land. 
They taught the people not to fear death, for they were 
going to live forever; but other parts of their teachings were 
not so good, for they offered up human sacrifices. They 
taught the worship of serpents and running streams, of oak 
trees, and especially of the mistletoe on the oak. Caesar 
liked to do things thoroughly, and he must have been eager 
to conquer Britain, but it was getting late in the season and 
his ships were in danger of being shattered by the storms 
of autumn. Moreover, the British were fighting valiantly; 
if he stayed longer, his army would surely suffer greatly. 
He decided to cross over to the Continent. 

How the Romans ruled their conquests. The Roman way 
of ruling a conquered country was not to make slaves of its 
people, but to treat them so fairly and kindly that they 



ROME BECOMES AN EMPIRE 



55 



would become proud of being a part of the mighty Roman 
Empire. This was the case with Gaul. The Roman rule kept 
it at peace, and just as soon as its people were prepared, 
they were given all the privileges of Roman citizens. So it 
was that the Gauls learned the ways that the Romans had 
been taught by the Greeks. Many Gauls became famous 
in Rome, not only as commanders, but as poets and orators 
and historians. 

Caesar becomes emperor of Rome. Caesar was a brilliant 
soldier, and he was also a politician. There was only one 
other man in the country who could rival him, and that was 
Pompey. When Caesar was returning from Gaul with troops 




Beak 



CESAR CROSSING THE RUBICON 



who were devoted to him, Pompey made no preparations 
to resist him. "How do you expect to oppose Caesar?" he 
was asked. "Oh, I need only stamp my foot on the ground," 
replied Pompey, " and an army will arise." Pompey waited, 
but Caesar advanced, and at length he camped beside a little 



56 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

river called the Ru'bi-con, which ran between Gaul and 
Italy. It was Roman law that no commander should pass 
this stream with armed troops, and Caesar hesitated. At 
last he exclaimed, "The die is cast!" He and his troops 
dashed through the water. Pompey found that armies did 
not assemble at the stamping of his foot, and in two months 
Rome was in the hands of Caesar. Pompey fled. Civil war 
followed and he was overpowered and slain. So it was that 
Rome was no longer a republic, but an empire, with Caesar 
as its emperor. Caesar and the following eleven rulers are 
called the "Twelve Caesars." 

The Roman Empire at the death of Augustus. The first 
of the eleven was Caesar's grandnephew Augustus. At his 
death, the Roman Empire extended from the Mediterra- 
nean Sea to the Rhine and the Danube. It also included 
Asia Minor, Syr'i-a, Egypt, and northern Africa, and, a little 
later, Britain, part of southern Russia, and also Armenia, 
As-syr'i-a, and Mes-o-po-ta'mi-a. It was so powerful that a 
man's best protection against injustice and injury was to 
say, " I am a Roman citizen." In far-away Judea, a Roman 
captain once bound the Apostle Paul and ordered him to be 
scourged; but when one of his officers whispered, "This man 
is a Roman," the captain was badly frightened because he 
had ventured even to bind a Roman without a trial. This 
same reign of Augustus was a time of great poets and his- 
torians and orators, and that is why it is called the Golden 
Age of Latin literature. 

The Romans as builders. There were many famous build- 
ings in Rome. One was the great Col-i-se'um, where gladi- 
ators fought, and where Christian martyrs were driven 
to be devoured by wild beasts while thousands of Romans 
looked on to be amused by their sufferings. The Romans 
liked plenty of fresh water, and they built many miles of 
aqueducts to bring it into Rome. They built most luxuri- 



ROME BECOMES AN EMPIRE 



57 



ous bath houses, in which people not only bathed but rested 
and amused themselves and talked with their friends. They 
built sewers, and one of them, twenty-five centuries old, is 
still doing its work. They reared beautiful and dignified 
arches of triumph in honor of their victories; and entirely 
around the forum, or principal public place of the city, they 




THE RUINS OF THE COLISEUM 

built handsome arched porticoes. When the Romans first 
knew Greece, they copied Greek buildings, but later they 
were more original, and they were especially successful in 
the use of the arch and the dome. The roof of the Pan'the- 
on, one of their temples, is the largest dome in the world. 

Road-making. Another sort of work for which the Ro- 
mans were famous was their roads. Wherever there might 
be need of soldiers, they wanted to be able to march them 
without a moment's delay, and therefore they made their 
roads as straight as possible and took great pains in their 
building. If a valley was to be crossed, they built a viaduct; 
if a mountain was in the way, they made a tunnel through 
it. To prepare the road, they first dug a deep ditch and 



58 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



filled it with rough stones and cement. Broken bricks or 
tiles were spread over this and pounded down. On top of 
it all great blocks of hard rock were laid. When it was done, 
it was almost as smooth as a floor. They did their work so 
well that some of their roads are in use to-day. 




THE PANTHEON 



A Pompeiian house. What a Roman house was like we 
can tell from the ruins of houses left in Pompeii (pom- 
pa'ye) from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius nearly nine- 
teen centuries ago. In the vestibule there was often a 
mosaic picture of a dog marked " Cave canem," beware of 
the dog; but a little farther on was sometimes the motto 
" Salve," welcome, in mosaic letters in the pavement. 
Within this vestibule was a large hall where the master of 
the house received his political friends. An oblong opening 
in the roof slanted down and let rain water fall into a marble 
pool below it. Beyond this hall was a court with beautiful 
columns of marble and a pierced roof to admit light and air. 
This was used for private entertainments. Then, too, there 
were bedrooms, a dining-room, a kitchen, and a library. 



ROME BECOMES AN EMPIRE 59 

There were busts and statues, coverlets for the couches and 
curtains at the doors dyed in brilliant hues, handsome lamps 
of bronze or gold, comfortable chairs of many designs, and 
graceful figures of dancing girls painted on the walls. The 
Roman houses had all that was needed for comfort and 
beauty, and they were never crowded with unnecessary 
furniture or foolish ornaments. 




Boulanger 
WOMEN'S COURT IN THE HOUSE OF A WEALTHY ROMAN 

Romans as law-makers. The Romans were famous as 
law-makers. More than five hundred years after the birth 
of Christ, the Roman emperor Jus-tin'i-an ordered his great- 
est lawyers to bring together the laws that had been made 
and also what had been written about them, and to put all 
this into clear and readable shape. The result is called the 
Code of Justinian, and there is hardly a civilized country in 
the world whose laws have not been influenced by this code. 



6o 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



What Roman boys were taught. Roman boys were 
taught reading, writing, arithmetic, and literature, like the 
Athenian boys. They learned to write with a stylus on tab- 
lets covered with wax. This could be smoothed out and 
used again and again. When they grew older, they were 
allowed to write with ink on a sort of paper made from the 
pa-py'rus plant, using pens of reeds. Much attention was 
paid to arithmetic, especially to learning how to calculate 
bills mentally. The schoolmasters were Greeks. People were 




A READING FROM HOMER 



Alma-Tadema 



expected to learn Greek as a matter of course, and boys 
were taught the Iliad and the Odyssey as much as the works 
of the Latin poets. Oratory, too, was as necessary as in 
Greece, and it was the custom for Roman boys, after leaving 
the lower school, to take a course in oratory. Gymnastics 
were looked upon as very important, but while the Greeks 
aimed at making their boys beautiful and graceful as well 
as strong, the Romans tried to make them strong and vig- 
orous, but did not aim especially at beauty. 

Roman books. Books were written by hand on papyrus 
paper or on parchment. This was made into long strips, 



ROME BECOMES AN EMPIRE 61 

fastened at each end to wooden or ivory rods, so it could be 
easily unrolled and rolled. There were publishing houses, 
just as there are to-day, only instead of printing with 
presses, slaves made copies of manuscripts. A book, then, 
was a roll of manuscript, and one that would contain what 
could be printed on fifteen or twenty pages of a volume of 
medium size would in those days be counted as a book. 

The time of peace. The reign of Augustus was not only 
the Golden Age of Latin literature, but it was also the golden 
age of peace. In Rome there was a temple in honor of the 
god Ja'nus, and whenever Rome was at war with any coun- 
try, the doors of this temple were kept wide open; when 
Rome was at peace, they were closed. Just when Rome was 
founded is not known, but it is usually reckoned as 753 B.C. 
If that is correct, then for more than seven centuries Rome 
had been at war save for one break in very early times, and 
a second break in the course of the long struggle with Car- 
thage. The third break came now, during the reign of 
Augustus, for while he was on the throne, there was a space 
of nineteen years when the temple doors were closed. The 
poet Milton says, — 

"No war, or battle's sound, 
Was heard the world around." 

The birth of Jesus. Not only in Italy, but in every prov- 
ince under the control of Rome, there was peace. One of 
the Roman provinces was a little country called Judea, 
which was the home of the Jews. These people thought a 
great deal about religious matters, and even when all the 
nations around them were worshiping idols, they worshiped 
the one true God. Some of their poets had composed very 
beautiful religious poems, such as "The Lord is my shep- 
herd," and "The heavens declare the glory of God." In this 
country the Holy Child Jesus was born. Some years later, 



62 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

Pon'ti-us Pi'late became governor of the province. He got 
into trouble with the Jews, once because he hung up in his 
palace in Jerusalem some shields bearing the names of Ro- 
man gods, and once because he took some of the money 
belonging to the Jewish temple for the building of an aque- 
duct. There had already been riots against his government, 
and it was not well for the governor to have such disorderly 
occurrences reported in Rome. For this reason he was afraid 
to set Jesus free against the wishes of the Jews. On the 
other hand, Pilate could not help fearing that Jesus might 
after all be a god, perhaps the son of the great Ju'pi-ter 
himself. The Jews understood the situation perfectly, and 
they said: "This man claims to be a king, and that is trea- 
son to Caesar. If you let him go, you are no friend to Caesar." 
Then Pilate feared for himself, and he allowed a man to be 
crucified whom he believed to be innocent rather than risk 
being blamed at Rome for a riot. 

The fairness of Augustus. Augustus, who was emperor at 
the time of the birth of Jesus, saw to it as far as possible that 
the people of the provinces were treated justly, and if any 
one of them had a complaint to make, he was always ready 
to listen to it. St. Paul was the son of Jewish parents, but 
he was born at Tarsus, one of the cities to which the Ro- 
mans had given the right of citizenship. That was why, 
when St. Paul was brought before the governor of Syria by 
the Jews, he could appeal to Caesar; and the governor was 
then obliged to arrange for his being carried to Rome for 
trial. 

Nero and the Christians. The teachings of Jesus spread 
rapidly. People had lost faith in the gods, and large num- 
bers, both poor and rich, welcomed the Gospel. Neverthe- 
less, it was not long before the Christians were cruelly per- 
secuted. Whatever misfortune might happen to Rome was 
laid to them. Much of the city was burned in a great fire. 



ROME BECOMES AN EMPIRE 



63 



Nero, the emperor, was suspected of having caused it, and 
to turn suspicion from himself, he accused the Christians of 
the crime. Hundreds of them were tortured. Some were 
sewed up in the skins of wild beasts and then torn to pieces 
by savage dogs set upon them. Some were crucified. Some 




CHRISTIAN MARTYRS IN THE COLISEUM 

were smeared with pitch and burned like great torches in 
Nero's garden. Some were thrown to the wild beasts of the 
coliseum. 

Why the Christians were persecuted. There were two 
reasons why other emperors also carried on these persecu- 
tions. One was that the religious services of the Chris- 
tians were held in secret; and the wildest stories arose of 
crimes which it was said were then committed. Many be- 
lieved that they had a secret organization, and this was 
strictly forbidden by Roman law. Another reason was that 
they refused to worship the gods of Rome. The Romans 
cared little how many other gods any one chose to worship, 
but the laws required public respect to their own. The 
Christians would not say a prayer to them, or pour out a 



6 4 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



few drops of wine on their altars, or burn a pinch of incense in 
their honor. They wouici not swear in court by these gods, 
because this implied belief in their existence. For these rea- 
sons those emperors who were most earnest in upholding 
the laws were often most severe in their persecutions. 

The catacombs. Unlike the Romans, the Christians did 
not believe in burning the bodies of their dead, and there- 




ARCH OF CONSTANTINE 



fore they made catacombs, or underground passages cut 
out of the soft rock, with niches for the bodies. As these 
galleries became crowded, others were cut under the first 
and often running in different directions until there was a 
great maze of passages on different levels. Here the Chris- 
tians not only buried their dead, but held their meetings. 
They could not be arrested here, because the laws held all 
places of burial as sacred. In the second and third centuries, 
however, persecution became so severe that officers and 
mobs paid no attention to this law, and the catacombs were 
no longer a refuge. 

The reign of Constantine. Still, the religion of Jesus made 



ROME BECOMES AN EMPIRE 65 

its way. In the fourth century Con'stan-tine the Great be- 
came emperor. He himself was baptized a Christian, and in 
his battles his army fought under the sign of the cross. 
Thus it was that Christianity became the state religion. 
Constantine issued a decree which said, "We grant to 
Christians and to all others full liberty to follow whatever 
religion they may prefer." He decided to build a new capi- 
tal, and chose the old town of Byzantium on the Bosphorus 
for its site. The city was now named Constantinople in his 
honor, and became a rival of Rome. 

Lessons taught by the Greeks and the Romans. The 
Romans at their best were a brave, keen people, though 
often stern and cruel. The Greeks taught us to give every 
citizen a voice in making the laws; but the Romans made it 
clear that the whole power of the land should be used, if 
necessary, to protect the humblest citizen. The Romans 
taught the value of good roads and of building for strength 
and durability. Much of art, literature, and especially law 
came from them. Both Greeks and Romans were patriotic, 
but while the Greeks were devoted to their own little state, 
the Romans had broader ideas and united many states in 
one empire. They handed down to us the great lesson that 
strength lies in union ; but that there can be no lasting union 
without order and organization and obedience to law. 

STUDY SUGGESTIONS 

1. Which was the wiser, Caesar or Pompey? 

2. Why ought a government to protect its citizens? 

3. How is water brought into your own town? 

4. Do you know any building with either an arch or a dome? 

5. Why do we need good roads in this country? 

6. What are the advantages and the disadvantages of making roads per- 
fectly straight? 

7. In what respects were the Roman houses better than ours? 

8. Can you name any other studies that would have been good for the 
Roman boys? Why would they have been of value? 



66 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

9. Do you think of any reasons why St. Paul wished to be tried in Rome? 

10. Do you think of anything in the customs of the Romans that would 
tend to make them stern and cruel? 

11. In what respects might the Romans have been improved? 

12. What ideas of the Romans were good? 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

The soldier who jumped into the sea with the Roman standard writes a 

letter home about the occurrence. 
How Caesar crossed the Rubicon. 
A Roman boy describes his school work. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE GERMANS 

The Gauls learn Roman ways. The Roman Empire ex- 
tended north to the Rhine and the Dan'ube. Gaul was con- 
quered by Julius Caesar, as has been said before, and by him 
Ariovistus was forced back across the Rhine to his native 
country. Roman settlers soon came into 
Gaul. Merchants brought their wares. 
Roman laws ruled the land, and in a 
much shorter time than one would have 
thought possible, the Gauls were talking 
Latin and following Roman customs. 

The coming of the Germans. The 
people across the Rhine became more and 
more troublesome. They were of many 
tribes, Angles, Saxons, and others, but 
the Romans called them all Germans. 
They made raids upon the Gauls, some- 
times in the summer, and sometimes by 
crossing on the ice in the winter, seized 
what booty they wanted, and escaped. 
Sometimes they came peacefully to the 
Roman cities and offered to work on the 
land or to defend the boundary and keep 
their countrymen back, and in such cases 
they were often welcomed. Sometimes a whole tribe came 
at once and demanded land to live on — which the Romans 
did not always dare to refuse — and sometimes they were 
strong enough to seize what land they wanted, whether the 




A GERMAN WAR 
CHIEF 



68 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



Romans refused or not. Tac'i-tus, a Latin writer, tells us 
the most that we know about the Germans. He says they 
were tall, strong people with keen blue eyes and light hair 
floating over their shoulders. The wardrobe of a German 
was not extensive, for it consisted of one article, a mantle 
made of wool or sometimes of the skins of animals. It was 
fastened with a clasp; but if a man had no clasp, he was 
not at all troubled, a thorn answered his purpose just as 
well. The women wore mantles of much the same sort, but 

often woven of linen 
and made gorgeous 
with purple dye. 

How the Germans 
lived. Most of the 
Germans lived in 
villages. The houses 
were only rude huts 
shaped like hay- 
stacks, and each 
man put his home 
wherever he chanced 
to find a spring or 
a grove or a meadow 
that pleased him; and so the villages were irregular and 
straggling. The Germans raised nothing but grain, and 
therefore they did not lay out gardens. At first the village 
owned the land and it was divided among the people every 
few years. After a while, however, each man had his own 
land, and only the forests and waste places belonged to 
the whole village. The Germans were a hospitable folk. 
Whenever a German heard any one at the door, he always 
brought him in, whether an old friend or an enemy, and 
gave him food and drink. If these gave out, host and 
guest went on to the next hut, and there both became 




ROMANS DESTROYING A VILLAGE OF THE 
GERMANS 

Observe the circular huts constructed of wickerwork, without 
windows and having but a single narrow door 



THE GERMANS 69 

guests. Tacitus does not say what happened if the second 
host and perhaps the third and the fourth were out of 
provisions. Probably this rarely came to pass, for the Ger- 
mans were excellent hunters. The public entertainments 
always consisted of the same amusement, namely, a skillful 
dance by naked young men among swords and javelins. 
They enjoyed social gatherings, but often drank too much 
and were given to gambling. The men looked upon hunt- 
ing and warfare as their part of the work; the rest was left 
to the women. 

The government of the Germans. The government of the 
Germans was as follows. A number of villages made a 
" hundred." Each village had a chief, and each hundred and 
each tribe had a chief, but of greater power than the chief 
of the village. Each of these greater chiefs had the right 
to gather around him a band of young men ready for war- 
fare. He gave them horses, armor, and food, and in return 
they swore to be faithful to him and to follow wherever he 
led. Each village, hundred, and tribe met regularly and 
every freeman had the right to vote for a chief. To be dis- 
loyal to a leader after voting for him was a disgrace that was 
never forgotten or forgiven ; and cowardice also was an un- 
pardonable crime. There was no separate army, but if war 
broke out, every man was called upon to help defend his 
home and his people. Each boy was carefully taught the 
use of weapons, and when a boy was full grown, he was 
brought by his father into the meeting of freemen and pre- 
sented to them as one who was ready to take his part among 
them. They welcomed him and gave him a spear and a 
shield. 

The gods of the Germans. The Germans believed in 
many gods. The greatest was Wotan, or Odin. He was the 
ruler of the sky and the air and the earth, and also the giver 
of the fruits of the ground. He was represented as a majes- 



7o 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



tic figure wearing a great white mantle and riding on a 
white horse. In his palace was the magnificent hall known 
as Val-hal'la, where he and his heroes lived forever. It is 
from this myth that Westminster Abbey in England, in 
which so many famous men are buried, is called the " Eng- 
lish Valhalla." 

Wotan and the Valkyries. Wotan's chief delight was in 
battle. No one was admitted to his Valhalla who had not 

died in valiant warfare. All day 
long he and his heroes enjoyed 
themselves in fighting and cut- 
ting one another into pieces. 
When night came, the wounds 
suddenly healed, and they sat 
down to feast. Whenever there 
was a battle on earth, Wotan 
sent his messengers to choose 
the bravest among the slain and 
bring them to his hall. These 
messengers were called the Val- 
kyr'ies, or choosers of the slain. 
They were thought to be beau- 
tiful maidens, who went forth 
with spear, shield, and helmet. 
Mounted on stalwart horses, 
they galloped to the fields of 
battle. Their armor was bright 
and shining. Its gleaming was reflected upon the clouds, 
and men on the earth called the glow the northern lights. 

Thor, the thunderer. Another of the German gods was 
Thor, the thunderer, who was the most powerful of all the 
gods. He was said to be armed with a hammer, and when it 
thundered, people used to say, "Thor has flung his hammer 
at some one of the giants." 




WOTAN 



THE GERMANS 



71 



Boniface and the Oak of Thor. The Germans never built 
even the simplest temples for their gods, but worshiped 
them out of doors. One great tree was called the Oak of 
Thor, because his worship was carried on under it for cen- 
turies. The missionary Boniface preached to the Germans 
against false gods, but still the worship of Thor went on 
under the oak. At last Boniface advanced, axe in hand, 
toward the sacred tree. The other clergy followed him 
and the people gazed 
in wonder and terror, 
for surely Thor would 
throw his hammer at 
this daring preacher. 
Boniface struck a blow 
with his axe, and the 
tree quivered ; another 
and another, and at 
length it crashed to the 
ground. "The Lord, 
He is God!" cried the 
people, and there was 
no more worship of 
idols under the Oak 
of Thor. 

The Nibelungen tale. 
Besides the myths of 
gods, there were also 
stories of heroes. The most famous of all is the Nibe- 
lungen (ne'be-long-en) tale. Probably this story began with 
short anecdotes of the bravery of some of the heroes of 
the early days, but as one after another told the stories, 
they came gradually to be told of one man; and so the 
legend grew. Even now it is told in several versions. In the 
best known of these, the knight Siegfried (seg'fred) became 




Von Carolsjeld 
SIEGFRIED AND KRIEMHILD 
(From a fresco in the Royal Palace, Munich, Germany) 



12 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

owner of a hoard of gold once belonging to a race of dwarfs 
called Nibelungs. Siegfried did not know that the gold 
would bring trouble to whosoever might own it, and he went 
joyfully out into the world in search of adventures. Adven- 
tures he found in plenty. First of all, he broke through a 
ring of fire, awoke the Valkyrie Brun'hild (bron'hild), and 
became betrothed to her. But enchantment was thrown 
upon him, and he forgot that he had ever seen her. He 
helped a king to win her as his bride, and he himself married 
the king's sister Kriemhild (krem'hild). 

Brunhild had not forgotten Siegfried, and by the help of 
Hagen, Kriemhild's wicked uncle, he was killed when out 
hunting. Kriemhild learned that Hagen was her husband's 
murderer, and she was determined to avenge him. Mean- 
while, Hagen stole the treasure and sank it deep in the 
Rhine, meaning to raise it some day for himself. After a 
time, Kriemhild became the wife of a king, but she did not 
forget the murder of Siegfried, and at a feast she caught up 
Siegfried's magic sword and slew the wicked Hagen. There- 
upon one of Hagen's followers ran her through with his own 
sword. Thus ended the story of the treasure of the Nibe- 
lungs, which brought ill to every one possessing it. 

The coming of the Huns. The Romans were in need of 
all their heroes, for toward the end of the fourth century, 
a great multitude of Goths, one of the German tribes, ap- 
peared on the farther bank of the Danube. This time they 
did not come to fight but to entreat. "A fearful enemy is 
upon us," they wailed, "and we are helpless. Let us cross 
the river and settle in Thrace, and we will forever after be 
your grateful friends and allies." It is no wonder that even 
the warlike Goths were terrified, for the new enemy was the 
race of Huns, who had come from Asia. " They are a hor- 
rible folk," said the Goths. "They are squat and dark and 
fierce. Their noses are flat and their cheeks have been cut 



THE GERMANS 



73 



in deep gashes. They are the children of witches and de- 
mons. Let us come across, and we will be faithful to you." 
The Goths enter the Roman Empire. The Romans hesi- 
tated, but at length they yielded. " But you must give up 
your weapons," they said, " and on our part we will promise 
to furnish you with food till you are settled in Thrace." The 




Checa 



A BARBARIAN INVASION 



whole nation, perhaps a million in all, crossed the Danube. 
They were hardly over before another horde of Goths ap- 
peared with the same petition. The Huns were upon them; 
would not the Romans let them put the river between 
them and the barbarians? The Romans did not dare to 
admit any more Goths into the empire and they refused. 
But the Goths feared the Huns more than they did the 
Romans, and the whole throng crossed the river. Now it 
was learned that the first comers had bribed the Roman 
officers to let them keep their weapons, also that the Ro- 
mans in charge of the food had filled their own pockets by 
forcing the Goths to buy poor food at a very high price. 



74 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

Naturally, the two great companies united against the Ro- 
mans. They were finally subdued, and many thousand 
joined the Roman armies. 

Alaric the Goth forces Rome to pay ransom. Among the 
Western Goths there was a valiant leader named Al'a-ric. 
He and his followers had fought under Roman commanders 
and he had been in Italy twice. He planned first to attack 
Greece, then Rome. He came through the pass of Ther- 
mopylae ; for the Greeks had forgotten the bravery of their 
ancestors, and before long Alaric and his men were feasting 
in Athens. Roman troops were upon him, however, and he 
slipped away, to await a good opportunity for attacking 
Rome. 

Six years later, the opportunity came. He marched 
straight up to the walls of Rome, shut off food from the 
city, and commanded it to surrender. The luxurious 
Romans were indignant that a mere barbarian should think 
of conquering Rome. Even after they were weakened by 
famine and pestilence, they told Alaric that if he would 
give them generous terms of surrender, they might yield, 
" but if not," they said, " sound your trumpets and make 
ready to meet a countless multitude." Alaric laughed and 
retorted, " The thicker the hay, the easier it is mowed." He 
would leave Rome, he declared, if they would bring him all 
the gold and silver of the city. Finally, however, he agreed 
to accept five thousand pounds of gold, thirty thousand 
pounds of silver, four thousand robes of silk, three thousand 
pieces of scarlet cloth, and three thousand pounds of pepper. 

Alaric plunders Rome. Only two years later, Alaric came 
again, and this time the proud Romans were forced to obey 
whatever he commanded. He put the prefect of the city 
upon the throne ; but a little later he came a third time and 
encamped before the walls of Rome. The trumpets blew 
blast after blast, and the invaders poured into the city. 



THE GERMANS 



75 



Alaric bade his men spare both churches and people; but 
the Goths killed all who opposed them, or whom they sus- 
pected of concealing their wealth. Then they went away, 
loaded down with gold and silver and silk and jewels. They 
were in no haste to leave Italy with its wine and oil and 
cattle and corn; and, moreover, Alaric meant to get pos- 




ALARIC IN ROME 



session of Sicily and then make an expedition to Africa. 
Suddenly all these plans came to an end, for he was taken 
ill and died. His followers turned aside a little river from 
its channel, wrapped the body of their dead leader in the 
richest of the Roman robes, and made his grave in the 
river-bed. Then they turned back the waters of the stream 
to flow over it forever. 

Roman soldiers are called home. With such troubles as 
these on their hands, the Romans were obliged to call their 



76 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



soldiers home from distant places in order to protect Rome. 
One of these places was Britain. A hundred years after 
Csesar died, many Romans went to Britain and partly con- 
quered the island. They built some of their excellent roads 
and founded cities with handsome buildings. Romans of 
wealth lived in elegant villas outside of the cities. The walls 
were beautifully painted, the floors were inlaid with marble, 
and the spacious rooms were adorned with 
statues and vases of great value. Many 
remains of these villas, of baths, of elabo- 
rate mosaic floors, and bits of statues have 
been found in England. 

Clovis and the vase of Soissons. Among 
the Germans there were some enterprising 
tribes that formed a sort of union and took 
the name of Franks. They had already 
made many settlements in Gaul, and as 
the Roman power became less, Clovis, then 
chief of these tribes, made up his mind 
that he and his Franks could overcome 
the Romans and win all Gaul for them- 
selves. When he was only twenty-one, he 
led his men against the Roman governor 
at Soissons, 1 and took the place. From 
here he sent out expeditions to conquer 
one bit of land after another and to bring back rich booty. 
The most valuable treasures were usually kept in the 
churches, and the heathen Franks took great delight in 
seizing these. Among the church treasures captured at 
Rheims (reemz) was a marvelously beautiful vase. Now 
the bishop of Rheims was on good terms with Clovis, and 
he sent a messenger to the young chief to beg that, even if 
the soldiers would not return all the holy vessels of the 

1 Swas-son', almost swl-son'. 




FRANKISH COSTUME 
OF THE TIME OF 
CLOVIS 



THE GERMANS 77 

church, this one at least might be given back. Clovis bade 
the messenger follow on to Soissons, where the booty would 
be divided. At Soissons, when all the warriors were assem- 
bled, the king pointed to the vase and said, " I ask you, 
O most valiant warriors, not to refuse to me the vase in 
addition to my rightful part." Most of the soldiers were 
wise enough not to object to the wishes of so powerful a 
chief; but one foolish, envious man swung his battle-axe 
and crushed the vase, crying, " Thou shalt receive nothing 
of this unless a just lot gives it to thee." It is no wonder 
that the whole army were amazed. at such audacity. Clovis 
said nothing, but quietly handed the crushed vase to the 
bishop's messenger. He did not forget the insult, however, 
and a year later, when he was reviewing his troops, he 
declared that this man's weapons were not in fit condition, 
and with one blow of his axe he struck the soldier dead, 
saying, " Thus thou didst to the vase at Soissons." 

The rule of Charlemagne. These Franks were the ances- 
tors of the French people. Of course they destroyed some 
of the Roman cities in Gaul, but much of the work of the 
Romans remained. When the great ruler Charlemagne 
(sharle-man') came to the throne, he was eager to learn and 
have his people taught. He was a great fighter, and after 
the ideas of those days, an ardent missionary, for he had a 
fashion of conquering a tribe and then giving them their 
choice between being slain and being baptized. Just as 
scholars had been invited to Alexandria, so this warlike 
king invited learned men to make their homes in his king- 
dom, and he "established a school in his own palace. He was 
much interested in astronomy; he had a German grammar 
made; he collected the old poems of his people; he founded 
schools in the land, and he bade the bishops and abbots see 
to it that the sons of serfs were treated just the same as the 
sons of free men and had just as good a chance to learn. He 



78 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



also brought to his kingdom musicians in order that there 
might be good music in the churches, and he built among 
others a specially magnificent church at Aix-la-Chapelle 
(aks-la-sha-pel'), his capital city. After Charlemagne died, 

the immense territory which 
he ruled was divided, roughly 
speaking, into what later be- 
came France, Germany, and 
Italy. 

The Moors in Spain. The 
Goths also made their way into 
Spain; but not much more 
than two hundred years after 
the Franks got possession of 
Gaul, the Moors, who believed 
that the Arabian Mo-ham 'med 
was a prophet of God , invaded 
the country. There they re- 
mained because the little 
Spanish states were too jealous 
of one another to unite against 
them. In 1469, Ferdinand of 
Ar'a-gon married Isabella of 
Castile (kas-teT), and now these 
two kingdoms worked together and subdued the Moors. 
Invaders as they were, the Moors did much for Spain, for 
they were a literary people and were learned in medicine and 
mathematics and well skilled in agriculture and commerce. 
They built handsome mosques and such magnificent palaces 
as the Al-ham'bra, which is still standing. While they 
dwelt in the land, Spain was far beyond other countries of 
Europe in knowledge, and so many people went to Spain to 
study that Moorish learning spread widely. 

Changes in languages. So it was that the mighty empire 




CHARLEMAGNE 



Diirer 



THE GERMANS 79 

of Rome broke up into separate countries. Spain, France, 
Germany, and Britain each had its own way of living, but 
all were influenced by what they had learned from the 
Romans, and through them from the Greeks. As the years 
passed, a great change took place in the languages of the 
different countries. Those conquered by Rome soon talked 
Latin ; but all languages change from year to year ; and even 
the people who lived in England a few hundred years ago 
would not find it easy to understand the English of to-day. 
So it was with the Roman countries. The languages changed, 
but the changes were not the same. Sometimes the words 
remained much alike; for instance, man, king, book, are in 
Latin homo, rex, liber ; in Italian, uomo, re, libro ; in Spanish, 
hombre, rey, libro; in French, homme, roi, livre. So many of 
the common words remain only a little changed that it is 
very easy for one who knows Latin to learn to read the 
Romance languages, 'as those are called which come from 
the Latin, or Roman. 



8o OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

STUDY SUGGESTIONS 

1. Which Roman customs were good for the Gauls? Were there arrj 
of which you do not approve? 

2. Why was it dangerous to give Roman land to the Gauls? 

3. Could the Goths have done anything better than to unite against the 
Romans? 

4. Why were not the Romans as brave to meet Alaric as they were in 
earlier times to meet their enemies? 

5. In what respect was Alaric nobler than his followers? 

6. What do you think of Clovis? 

7. What is the difference between the missionary work of Charlemagne's 
time and that of to-day? 

8. Why cannot a country get along just as well without schools? 

9. Can you find any words that are nearly alike in any two languages? 
10. Can you think of any two English words that have nearly the same 

meaning? 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

A visit to a German village. 
A father tells his son about the Oak of Thor. 
A Gothic boy tells of the coming of the Huns. 
When Alaric came to Rome. 



CHAPTER VII 

ALFRED AND THE ENGLISH 

The coming of the Germans. The Roman troops had 
hardly left Britain before the country was attacked by 
savage tribes from the north and also German tribes from 
the Continent. The Britons were in despair. They sent an 
appeal to Rome for help, but Rome could not even defend 
herself. The Britons de- 
cided to offer to some of 
the German tribes land in 
Britain if they would help 
drive away the invaders. 
The tribes agreed, and 
soon a band of Jutes from 
Jutland, led by the two 
chiefs, Hengist and Horsa, 
landed in Than'et. They 
were followed by Angles 
from Schleswig, together with Saxons and others from the 
country lying between the Rhine and the Elbe; but the 
Britons called them all Saxons. With the help of these new- 
comers, the troublesome invaders were driven away; but 
so many Saxons came that Thanet was not large enough 
for them, and they demanded more land. What was worse, 
they were ready to fight for it. The Britons were ready to 
defend it ; but the Saxons were the stronger. Probably the 
warfare went on for many years, but at length many of the 
Britons were driven to the mountains of western Britain. 

King Arthur. One of the British leaders is said to have 




ANCIENT JUTISH BOAT 

(It was found some years ago buried in a peat bog 
in South Jutland, so perfectly preserved that the 
parts could be put together) 



82 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



been a certain King Arthur, who fought sternly and fear- 
lessly until he was forced far back into the mountains of 
Wales. He and his knights were said to have sat together 
at a table which was made round so that no one of them 
could claim to be occupying a more honorable seat than 
another. Just as in the case of the story of the Nibelungs, 
stories of the amazing goodness and prowess of King Arthur 




LANDING OF THE SAXONS 



and his followers were told and retold, until at last they 
were united in one story. Finally, Tennyson put them into 
beautiful poetry in his I'dylls of the King. 

Britain becomes England. Conquering Britain was slow 
work; it was sixty years before even the southern part of 
the country was subdued. At length, however, the Britons 
were driven back into Wales, Devonshire, and a strip of 
land on the western coast. The Angles held the eastern 
part of Britain and the southeastern part of Scotland; the 
Saxons held the southern part, save for Devonshire and 
Wales, and the Jutes held the Isle of Wight and the little 
county of Kent. Gradually, the country took the name of 



ALFRED AND THE ENGLISH 83 

Angle-land or England, from the name of one tribe; but 
the people were spoken of as Saxons, from that of another; 
and persons descended from them are called Anglo-Saxons. 

Representative government in England. The Britons 
who had been driven to the west by the Saxons were 
Christians. St. Patrick had preached in Ireland, and the 
Irish monasteries had become the most famous schools in 
Europe. The Saxons had lived a long way from Rome, 
and so were less civilized than most of the other Germanic 
tribes. They knew nothing about Christianity, and seemed 
to take special delight in destroying churches and convents. 
Nevertheless, they knew how to cultivate the soil and they 
wished to have settled homes. They had lost nothing of 
their love of freedom by coming to Britain, and they had 
also a new and valuable idea in government. In Rome every 
free citizen had a right to vote; but it was no easy matter 
to make a long journey to the city in order to cast a vote; 
and the result was that the Roman Empire was ruled not 
by the whole people, but by those who lived in Rome and 
near it. In England, the members of the village chose four 
men to speak and vote for them at the meeting of the hun- 
dreds, that is, the group of villages that could furnish one 
hundred fighting men. This was what is called represen- 
tative government, and the village assembly, the "moot," 
or meeting, was the origin of our "town meeting." 

St. Gregory and the English boys. The Germans seem 
to have come in companies, and there were frequent wars 
among them. Captives taken in these wars were often sold 
as slaves. One day a kind priest, known afterwards as St. 
Greg'o-ry, saw some English boys for sale in the Roman 
market-place. He was struck by the beauty of their blue 
eyes and fair hair, and asked where they came from. " They 
are Angli" {English), was the reply. " Non Angli sed 
angeli! " {not Angles, but a ngels) exclaimed Gregory, and 



84 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

from that day he longed to preach the Gospel in England. 
This never came to pass, for he was made Pope and had to 
remain in Rome ; but he sent in his stead a priest afterwards 
called St. Au'gus-tine. 

St. Augustine preaches in England. Augustine and his 
band of monks landed on the Isle of Thanet, just where 
Hengist had landed before them. The king of Kent had 




SAINT GREGORY AND THE ENGLISH SLAVE CHILDREN 

married a Christian maiden, daughter of the Frankish king 
of Gaul, and he was willing that the missionaries should 
come. "Then," he said, " I will meet you there, and hear 
what you have to say about this new religion, and if it seems 
to me to be true, I will accept it." He was afraid that the 
strangers might practice magic, and for fear of evil spirits he 
had the assembly in the open air, where demons would have 
less power than in a house. St. Au'gus-tine and the others 
came first to the place of meeting. A beautiful silver cross 
was borne before them, gleaming in the sunlight, and a pic- 
ture, or image, of Christ. Then came the missionaries chant- 



ALFRED AND THE ENGLISH 



85 



ing the litany. The king listened intently while St. Augus- 
tine preached about the religion of the one God. The Saxons 
were never hasty in accepting any new ideas, and the king 
went home to think about the matter. A year later, he and 
his followers were baptized. Churches and monasteries were 
now built, and Augustine was made archbishop of Canter- 
bury. 

Egbert becomes overlord. The Danes. England was 
broken into several little kingdoms, but in 829 a king named 
Egbert succeeded in extending his own kingdom over all 
southern England and making the kings of the other parts 




THE COMING OF THE DANES 

of the land, except in the west, acknowledge him as over- 
lord. The English needed to hold together, for now they 
were fiercely attacked by great fleets of pirates or vi'kings 
who lived about the Baltic Sea. These were the Danes or 
Northmen. They were wild and fearless and loved adven- 
ture, and they thought it a disgrace for a man to die in his 
bed at home. No storm was too furious and no sea too tur- 



86 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

bulent for them to leap into their boats and dash forth from 
the creeks or inlets into the open ocean. These creeks were 
called "viks," and therefore the wild sea-rovers called them- 
selves vikings. One of their boats, buried in the sand for 
centuries, was dug up in Norway. It is nearly seventy-eight 
feet long, but less than six feet deep. It would draw less than 
four feet of water. Along the sides were ranged the over- 
lapping shields of the warriors. The rudder could easily be 
shipped. This vessel had room for sixteen oars on each side, 
but some of the larger ones had room for thirty oars. The 
largest boats were called dragons and had the gilded head of 
a dragon at the bow and its gilded tail at the stern, and as 
the vessel moved swiftly over the waters, it must have really 
looked like a great dragon. There was probably a square 
sail set on a mast which could be quickly taken down. The 
flag bore a raven black as midnight. The smaller boats 
sometimes represented serpents, and frightful enough they 
must have looked. 

The attacks of the Northmen. In such boats as these, 
often provisioned for several weeks, the Northmen swept 
across the waves, then slipped quietly up some river in the 
darkness, and with wild yells pounced upon some defenseless 
little village, killed, burned, and plundered. They destroyed 
bridges, they set fire to the growing crops, they tossed little 
babies to and fro on the points of their spears, they tortured 
the helpless dogs and horses. Then they set off for their 
homeland to display the booty they had won. Their law of 
battle was that a Dane who fled from fewer than five dis- 
graced himself. The destruction of churches and convents 
was their special delight, for in these buildings were rich treas- 
ures of gold and silver and precious stones. If the different 
parts of England could have united and stood together 
firmly, they might perhaps have been able to resist the in- 
vaders; but as it was, when one part of the country was 



ALFRED AND THE ENGLISH 87 

attacked, the people of the rest of it apparently had no other 
thought than merely to rejoice because they themselves had 
escaped harm. 

The battle of Ashdown. For some time the Danes seemed 
to have no idea of remaining in England; they made their 
terrible attacks and then sailed away in triumph. At length 
the time came, however, when they showed themselves de- 
termined to conquer the whole country. The Saxons met 
them valiantly, and at last the battle of Ashdown took 
place. Far up on Ashdown Hill there is the rudely outlined 
figure of a horse, made by cutting away the turf from the 
white limestone. It is so large that it spreads over nearly 
an acre of the hillside. The standard of the Saxons was a 
white horse, and tradition says this figure was cut in mem- 
ory of the victory of the Saxons at Ashdown. It is an old 
custom for the people of the neighborhood to set apart a day 
every few years for " scouring the white horse," that is, for 
cutting away the turf and bushes that have grown till they 
partly conceal the outlines of the horse. Then they have 
races and games and a general good time. 

Alfred becomes King. There was not a moment for any 
rejoicing over the victory, for the Danes had come in 
swarms, and there were scores to take the place of every 
Dane who had been slain. Other battles followed, and in one 
of these Ethelred, the king, was killed. This left the king- 
dom in the hands of his younger brother. His name was Al- 
fred, but he would have been greatly surprised if he had 
been told that in later times he would be called Alfred the 
Great. He was only twenty-two, his enemies were all about 
him, there was no one to help him, no one to whom he could 
go for advice. There was not a day to spare for the crowning 
of the young king. There was no rejoicing, there was not 
even a meeting of the chief men of the kingdom to accept 
him as their ruler. The only difference was that Alfred took 



88 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



the command of the army in place of his brother. We speak 
of him as king of England, but in reality only a part of Wes- 
sex was at that time fully under his control. 

Alfred builds ships. After a while, the Danes withdrew 
and took up their winter quarters in London. Then Alfred 

had a little time to think. 
Both Saxons and Danes 
were of the same Germanic 
blood and by nature both 
loved the sea. The Saxons 
had for many years been 
settled on the land, but 
Alfred believed that the old 
skill on the sea could be 
aroused, and he planned to 
build ships to meet the 
Danes on the water, and 
so protect the land. His 
chief men were not at all 
certain that this course was 
wise, but after the ships had 
been built and a victory 
won, they became as eager as the king to build more. 

Alfred takes refuge in a forest. At last the Danes asked for 
a treaty of peace. Treacherous as the Danes were, the Saxons 
could not believe that they would break the solemn treaty; 
but this they did, and in only a few months. Alfred's lines 
had been sadly thinned by warfare; many men had been 
driven from England by want of food ; his people were hope- 
less. The king himself was almost in despair. Suddenly he 
disappeared. His wife and family and a few of his most 
faithful friends had also vanished. He had taken refuge in 
a swampy forest. Here and there was ground that was dry 
enough to be cultivated, and in such places swineherds and 




ALFRED THE GREAT 



ALFRED AND THE ENGLISH 89 

cattle herds had built their huts. These were of brushwood 
held together with mud or of earth mixed with straw. Some- 
times posts were planted in a circle, twigs interwoven, and 
the spaces filled with clay. The smoke went out through a 
hole in the roof — when it went out at all. In one of these 
huts, where Alfred stayed for a time, lived one of his own 
herdsmen, and the thrifty wife could not understand why her 
husband should feed an idle stranger. There is a tradition 
that she tried to make him useful by setting him to watch 
some cakes baking before the fire, and that she scolded him 
roundly because the anxious king forgot to turn them. An- 
other tradition of his stay in the forest is that in order to 
get information about the Danes he put on the dress of a 
wandering harper and went to their camp. He amused them 
by singing old ballads, and they never guessed that they 
were applauding the English king. 

Alfred makes peace with the Danes. When spring came, 
Alfred made an attack upon his enemies. He was not strong 
enough to drive them from the land, but he did make them 
agree to remain in their settlements in the eastern and 
northern parts of England. This treaty was different from 
those that the Danes had broken before, for they agreed to 
be baptized ; and this signified that they were ready to give 
up their wild life and settle down. Alfred agreed that they 
might keep East Anglia, the northern half of Mer'cia, and 
North-um'ber-land ; but he retained a sort of overlordship. 
Both Saxons and Danes were to have the same laws and 
the same penalties for law-breaking. Where the Danes 
lived was called Danelagh, or Dane-law. 

The ravaged Kingdom. The Danes had run over the land 
again and again; crops had been destroyed; houses and 
churches had been burned ; convents with their schools and 
libraries had been demolished, and the monks, who were the 
teachers, had been driven from the land or slain. There was 



ALFRED AND THE ENGLISH 91 

no money in the king's treasury, the fortifications were in 
ruins; indeed, they had never been of much value — and 
the people were restless and troubled. Some thought the 
land would have to be given up to wild beasts. 

Alfred's forts and navy. Alfred knew well that even if the 
Danes already in the country kept the treaty, yet others 
would be likely to come, therefore first of all he built a line 
of forts around the coast. This was slow work, for he wished 
his people to learn how to use stone in building, and he had 
to send to the Continent for workmen to teach them. Then 
he proceeded to make a navy, and it was not many years 
before he had at least one hundred vessels fully equal 
to those of the Danes. He built also many convents and 
churches. 

The laws are enforced. After so many years of warfare, 
the people had become careless of law and order. Alfred 
made them understand that laws were given to be kept. 
He made the judges, too, realize the same thing, and once 
when a man was condemned without the consent of the 
jury, he promptly hanged the unjust judge. If a man asked 
for a trial before the king, his request was granted ; but Al- 
fred was so sure to find out the truth that no guilty man 
liked to come before him. 

Learned men come to England. Alfred could build 
schools and churches, but to find teachers and priests was 
a different matter; for there was not a priest south of the 
Thames (temz) who could translate a page of Latin into 
Saxon. Then, just as Charlemagne had done, Alfred in- 
vited learned men from other countries to make their homes 
in his kingdom. He liked especially a Welsh priest named 
Asser, who was very helpful in all his plans, and to him the 
king gave lavish presents and generous honors. 

Alfred translates books for his people. Alfred meant that 
every boy in the land should learn to read his own language, 



9 2 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



and that those who showed special ability should also learn 
to read Latin ; but the difficulty was that Latin was looked 
upon as the proper language for books, and English books 
were almost entirely lacking. So the busy king began to 
translate books from Latin into English for the use of his 
people. Pope Gregory, who had been so interested in the 
blue-eyed children from Britain, had written a letter to 




AN EARLY ENGLISH CHURCH 



teach bishops how to do their best for the people in their 
care; and Alfred first of all translated that. Then there 
was an old book by a monk called Bede (beed) which tells 
the history of the land, and this he put into English. An- 
other was a sort of geography and history combined. It was 
written five hundred years before Alfred's day, and was just 
a bit out of date. Therefore, whenever the king came to any 
subject which he knew more about than the writer, he added 
his own knowledge. When he translated the chapter about 
Sweden, for instance, he added what a hale and hearty sea- 
captain had just told him of his recent voyage to the north- 
ward. Longfellow's ' ' Discoverer of the North Cape " tells the 



ALFRED AND THE ENGLISH 93 

whole story in verse of the captain's coming to the king and 
describing his voyage to the North Cape. So it was that 
Alfred translated. He never forgot that he was writing for 
his people, and if he came to anything that he thought they 
would not understand, he wrote enough of" his own to make 
it clear to them. 

Alfred's lantern. The earnest king determined that half 
his money and half his time should be given to some special 
service for God. He could divide his money, but he had no 
clock to mark off the time. He succeeded, however, in mak- 
ing candles of such a size that six of them burnt in suc- 
cession would last twenty-four hours. Therefore one would 
burn four hours, and by marking it off into twelve divisions, 
he could divide his time into twenty-minute periods. There 
was one difficulty, however. When a candle was in a 
draught, it burned too rapidly; so Alfred put thin sheets 
of horn around it, making a sort of lantern, and Asser 
wrote admiringly that the light was just as bright without 
as within. 

The repulse of the Danes. The Danes tried once more to 
overpower King Alfred, and sailed their fleet into a little 
river. Behold, the king quietly turned the river out of its 
course and so left the ships on dry land. This was more than 
even the Danes could stand, and they fled for their lives. 

Alfred had received a barren land overrun by enemies. 
He left it a peaceful, prosperous kingdom, with schools, 
churches, just laws, vessels, and fortifications. It is no 
wonder that he is called Alfred the Great. 

STUDY SUGGESTIONS 

1. Why were the Britons unwise to invite the Saxons to their country? 

2. Read the story of Arthur's pulling the sword from the stone, and 
then tell it, as you would tell it to a younger child. (See King Arthur 
Stories from Malory, Stevens and Allen. The Boy's King Arthur, 
Lanier. Any edition of Malory.) 



94 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

3. In this country, does every man vote directly for president, or does 
he choose a representative to vote for him? Which way is better? 
Why? 

4. If you have an opportunity to attend a town meeting, report how it 
was carried on. 

5. Imagine that you are watching the landing of St. Augustine, and tell 
what you see. 

6. Are there any other scenes in this chapter that would be good sub- 
jects for pictures? 

7. What statues or pictures or monuments have you seen or heard of 
that serve as memorials of people or great events? 

8. Suggest different ways of celebrating great events. 

9. What was the worst quality in the Northmen? 

10. If you were wrecked on an island, how many different kinds of dwell- 
ings could you build? 

11. What qualities in Alfred are shown by his visit to the Danish camp? 

12. What do you call Alfred's best and wisest act? 

13. Why was it worth while for Alfred's subjects to study geography and 
history? 

14. Do you remember any interesting events connected with rivers? 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

The letter of the Britons to the German tribes. 

A story of King Arthur. See Tennyson's Idylls of the King. 

One of the English captives describes the meeting with St. Gregory. 

Describe a day of "scouring the white horse." 

Two Saxons discuss the invitation to come to Britain. 

The housewife tells her husband the story of the burned cakes. 



CHAPTER VIII 



HOW THE ENGLISH BEGAN TO WIN THEIR LIBERTIES 

Charlemagne and the Northmen. The Danes did finally 
rule in England, but this came about in a way that no one 
would ever have expected. The story is told that while 
Charlemagne was one 



HEBRIDES \%.A> f-^ 



day sitting at dinner, 

he saw a fleet of long, 

narrow boats coming 

swiftly toward the land. 

He noted the dragon's 

head and tail and the 

row of shields, and he 

knew that these people 

were Northmen. He and 

his followers marched 

down to the shore to 

drive them away; but 

there was no fighting, 

for the Danes had heard 

about the prowess of 

the king and had no 

wish to meet him; so 

they scurried away as 

fast as their boats could 

be made to carry them. 

As the Franks stood 

watching them, Charlemagne's eyes filled with tears. " I 

weep," he said, "to see that they have ventured so near 




ROUTES OF THE VIKING EXPEDITIONS 



96 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

our shore, and to think of the evils that they will bring 
upon my children and their people." 

Rollo the Dane comes to France. Charlem'agne was right, 
for in a few years after his death the Danish chief Rollo got 
possession of a part of northern Gaul, or France. The king 
of France was not strong enough to drive the Danes away, 
so while they stood on one side of a little river, the French 
stood on the other, and they bargained that the Northmen, 
or Normans, should settle in that part of the land which 
took its name from them and is still called Normandy. This 
land they were to hold as long as they gave the king of 
France faithful military service. 

Rollo was a strict ruler in his new country, for he was as 
eager to succeed as a Christian ruler as he had been to make 
a success of his viking life. The Normans were ready to 
adopt any new ways that seemed better than their own, 
and before long they became as French as the French 
themselves. 

William the Norman conquers England. Meanwhile, the 
Danes had gained so much power in England that for a few 
years Danish kings ruled the land. Then came an Anglo- 
Saxon ruler, Edward the Confessor, who promised to be- 
queath the throne to his kinsman, William Duke of Nor- 
mandy. At the king's death, however, the English chose an 
Englishman as their ruler. William was indignant. With all 
his forces he sailed across to England, conquered the inhabit- 
ants in the battle of Hastings, and seized the throne. The 
English rose against him again and again; but at last they 
were forced to yield, and in time the two races united in one. 
The English, though brave # and strong to endure, were 
slower and less fiery than the Normans, while the invaders 
were quick and energetic. It was a good thing that the two 
races mingled, for their descendants have many of the good 
qualities of both. 



HOW THE ENGLISH WON THEIR LIBERTIES 97 

How William ruled. Even the English admitted that 
William was just; indeed, he imprisoned his own half- 
brother Odo because in the king's absence Odo had treated 
the people unfairly; but he ruled with a strong hand. The 




A NORMAN CASTLE KEEP, ROCHESTER CASTLE 



English who would swear to be faithful to him, he per- 
mitted to retain their lands, but those who refused the oath 
were deprived of their holdings. These became the property 
of the king, and so did the lands of those who had fought 
against him in the battle of Hastings. This land he divided 
among his Norman followers; but he was shrewd enough 
not to let even a Norman hold too much land in any one 



98 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

district, lest he should become too powerful. He was as 
careful as Alfred to strengthen his government by building 
strong castles in different parts of the kingdom and putting 
them into the hands of men whom he could trust. 

The English language is enriched. Of course the Normans 
spoke French and the English spoke English; but the Eng- 
lish gradually prevailed. This new English, however, often 
retained two words, one from the French and one from 
the English, meaning the same thing; for instance, act, from 
the French, or rather the Latin through the French; and 
deed, from the English. The language was enriched; that is, 
it became possible to express the same idea in two or more 
different ways. To this day, English borrows words from 
different languages, but it makes them wear an English 
dress. We take telegraph from the Greek; but we say 
telegraphs and telegraph-ing, and the 5 and the ing are not 
Greek, but English. 

Death of William. Normandy was a most independent 
duchy, and was not at all afraid to fight the French king. 
In one of their struggles the city of Mantes was burned. 
When riding over the ruins, William was thrown from his 
horse, and afterward died of his injuries. If we may trust 
one of the old chroniclers, Matilda, wife of William the Con- 
queror, was descended from Alfred the Great. In that case, 
the present ruler of England would be a descendant of both 
William and Alfred. 

John revolts against King Richard. Less than two hun- 
dred years after the reign of William the Conqueror, one of 
his descendants, King Richard, sat upon the throne of Eng- 
land. When he was on a crusade, or expedition to rescue 
the Holy Land from the Turks, his brother John led a 
revolt and did everything in his power to get the govern- 
ment into his own hands. On Richard's way home he was 
captured by one of his enemies and imprisoned. John was 



HOW THE ENGLISH WON THEIR LIBERTIES 99 



delighted and tried to convince the English that their king 
was dead. Richard's mother and his ministers stood firmly 
by the absent crusader, and the country gladly paid a large 
ransom to secure his freedom. 

John's crimes. John was a thoroughly bad man. When 
he was nineteen, his father sent him to Ireland as " Lord of 
Ireland." The chiefs came to welcome 
him, but he behaved so insolently that 
they fought him and his army; and the 
king in wrath ordered him to return to 
England. The rest of his life was worthy 
of this beginning. He was always in 
trouble — and he always deserved it. He 
divorced his wife and married a young 
lady who was betrothed to one of his own 
nobles, and this aroused warfare against 
him. When at Richard's death he be- 
came king, he did not improve in the least. 
He was afraid that his nephew Arthur, 
who was the son of an older brother, might 
get possession of the kingdom. The boy 
disappeared, and it was suspected that 
John had murdered him. The king of 
France tried him for murder, and de- 
prived him of more than half his Nor- 
man lands. That is why he was called John Lackland. 

How John got money. John was by far the worst ruler 
England ever had. He was always in need of money, and he 
did not care in the least how he got it. In order to hold 
their land, the nobles were obliged to obey whenever the 
king called them out to war. John took advantage of this 
law by calling the barons to come out in arms, and then 
refusing to allow them to return home until they had paid 
him large sums of money. Sometimes he did not make any 




JOHN 

(From his monument in 
Worcester Cathedral) 



ioo OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

sort of excuse, but simply demanded money of any persons 
who he thought had it. If they refused to give it, he often 
tortured them until they yielded. Men who had committed 
crime and deserved to be punished he would set free if they 
could raise money enough to make him a present. If two 
men disagreed and brought their difficulty before him for 
trial, he would decide in favor of the one who had made him 
the larger gift. Sometimes, for some very small offense, he 
would demand money of a poor man who had only a horse 
and cart with which to earn his living; and if the man had 
no friends to bribe the king, his horse and cart were sold to 
help fill the royal treasury. 

John and the Pope. When the Archbishop of Canterbury 
died, there was a dispute about who should succeed him. 
The Pope was appealed to, and he bade the monks of Canter- 
bury name a good, upright, scholarly man named Stephen 
Langton to take his place. This choice did not please the 
king, because he knew that he could not control so honest 
and fearless a man, and therefore he seized the monastery 
and its revenues, banished the monks, and for six years he 
resisted the Pope and refused to let Langton enter his own 
see. Finally, he became afraid that he was going to die, and 
then he yielded most meekly. He even went to the arch- 
bishop to beg for absolution, or the pardon of the Church. 
"When you promise to obey the laws of the land and to 
treat your people justly, I will absolve you," replied the 
dauntless archbishop. 

John was always ready to make a promise, but he never 
kept it unless it was convenient. He promised what the 
archbishop asked; and said he would restore at once what 
he had taken from the Church; but, as might have been 
expected, he did not keep his word. 

The meeting of the barons. Next to the king, the barons 
were the most powerful men of the kingdom ; but even they 



HOW THE ENGLISH WON THEIR LIBERTIES 101 

did not know what to do. Fortunately, the archbishop 
knew. He called the barons together and read them what had 
been the law of the land since a short time after the death 




ARCHBISHOP LANGTON READING THE LAW OF THE LAND TO THE BAR6NS 

of William the Conqueror. Then the barons knew better 
what their rights were, and they took a solemn oath to 
defend them. " But we will wait for one year," they said. 
" The king may do better." They waited a year; then they 
waited till Christmas. The king had not improved, and the 
barons went to him and asked him to repeat the promises 
that he had made to the archbishop. John was insolent at 



102 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

first, but when he saw that the barons were in earnest, he 
became very meek, and said that what they asked was 
important, to be sure, but also difficult, and he should need 
a little time before making the agreement. By Easter he 
should be able to satisfy them. The barons did not believe 
him, and so, when Easter came, they brought to the ap- 
pointed place a large body of armed followers. After a while 
John sent to ask what it was that the barons insisted upon 
having. Then bold, dignified Stephen Langton read aloud 
to him from a parchment such articles as these : "A free 
man shall not be fined for a small offense except in propor- 
tion to the gravity of the offense." "No free man shall be 
imprisoned or banished except by the lawful judgment of 
his equals, or by the law of the land." 

The wrath of King John. John grew more and more 
angry as these were read ; and when the archbishop went on 
to read other articles declaring that the king must not take 
bribes, or impose taxes without the consent of his council, 
or body of advisers, and finally one giving the barons the 
right to elect twenty-five of their number to keep watch 
over him and seize his castles if he did not keep his promise, 
then he went into a furious passion. " I will never grant 
liberties that would make me a slave! " he declared. 

John signs Magna Carta. But what could he do? When 
John found that he must yield, he sent a polite message to 
the barons, saying that he was willing to meet them wher- 
ever they wished and to promise them whatever they de- 
sired. 

There was a famous green meadow with low hills on 
one side and the river Thames on the other. Its name of 
Run'ny-mede, or Meadow of Council, was given it long 
before William the Conqueror landed in England, because 
there the Saxons used to hold their councils. To this 
meadow the barons and their army marched from London. 



HOW THE ENGLISH WON THEIR LIBERTIES 103 

Then out of a strong fortress that rose near at hand, and 
across the drawbridge that swung over the moat, rode an 
angry and sulky ruler of England. He signed the parch- 
ment, either in the meadow or on an island in the river, and 
then he went back to his palace. He gnashed his teeth, and 




THE BARONS PRESENTING MAGNA CARTA TO KING JOHN 



shrieked, and rolled on the floor like a madman; but 
the barons cared little for his wrath, they were hard at 
work seeing to it that many copies of this parchment were 
made and sent over the land to be read aloud in the 
churches. 

Magna Carta. This parchment was the famous Magna 
Carta, or Great Charter. One of the copies of it is now, 
brown, shriveled, and torn, in the British Museum. This is 
the most precious document owned by the English nation, 
for it secures for the whole people the right that their ruler 
shall treat them justly. From that day to this, no ruler 
has ever been able to remain on the throne of England who 



104 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



has not kept the promises that King John was obliged to 
make that June day at Runnymede. 

The extravagant Henry III. The little son of King John, 
who was crowned as Henry III, was a gentle, amiable boy. 
Of course all laws were made in his name, but the barons 
were the real rulers, and until the king was of age and had 
full power in his own hands, matters went on very well. 








JUt cjmlpr. A«* t&ia\M n^cbo^temiAt- .nee W ami wunitf n«c wa cunv iiirtemvi\mf\V U- 
FACSIMILE EXTRACT FROM MAGNA CARTA 



Then the country was in trouble again, for this king was so 
extravagant and fond of display that even the taxes of a 
kingdom were not enough for him. When his sister married 
the emperor of Germany, Henry gave her such splendid 
jewels and dresses and horses and golden dishes that people 
stared in amazement to see even an empress display such 
magnificence. Of course the English had to pay for all this 
lavishness, and when, the very next year, the king himself 
married, the demands upon them were still larger. Worse 
than that, the new queen was from France, and brought 
with her to England troops of friends and relatives and 
clergymen. The king put the clergymen in the best paying 
positions in the Church, and gave so many pensions to the 
friends and relatives that one sixth of the royal income was 



HOW THE ENGLISH WON THEIR LIBERTIES 105 

wasted upon them. Two or three years after the marriage, 
a prince was born, and then the king, not satisfied with the 
generous presents that people made on such occasions, 
actually sent men about the country to ask for gifts. Some 
years after this, when he wanted money, he visited the 
homes of his subjects, and at the end of each visit he invited 
his host to make him a present! He begged and borrowed 




BUILDING OPERATIONS DURING THE REIGN OF HENRY III 
The king, to the left, is giving directions to the architect 

everywhere. He even stole from the Church, for if a 
position became vacant, he let it remain so and took the 
income for himself. 

The English bear with Henry. If this Henry III had been 
a king of whom the English people could have been proud, 
they would have been more willing to endure his extrava- 
gance, but his government was weak, he had never put an 
enemy to flight, and the clear-headed Englishmen began to 
realize how foolish it was to make themselves poor that such 
a king might have money to throw away. They were long- 



io6 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



suffering, and whenever they seemed ready to make a stand 
against him, the king would break down and weep and say 
that he meant them no harm. He would promise whatever 
they asked, and perhaps he really meant to keep his prom- 
ises, but he was so weak that he broke them at the first 
temptation. 

A party formed against Henry. The people of England 
bore with their extravagant ruler for forty years, then their 



am 

m 




PLANTAGENET KING AT TABLE 

wrath rose and did not subside. Henry was sending to the 
Pope much larger sums than they thought their land could 
spare, and now on a promise that one of the English princes 
should rule Sicily, Henry had agreed to give the Pope a great 
amount of money to help make a conquest of the island. 
He called Parliament together, brought in his son wearing 
the Sicilian dress, and told the assembly what an honor it 
would be to England for the prince to be king of Sicily. 
Simon de Montf ort and Henry, This was not a good time 



HOW THE ENGLISH WON THEIR LIBERTIES 107 

to ask for so much money to be sent out of the kingdom, for 
che English were carrying on a war with the Welsh, and 
there was a terrible famine besides. The barons refused to 
yield to Henry's demands, and finally a strong party was 
formed against him. The leader in this opposition was 
Henry's brother-in-law, Simon de Montfort. Henry was 
afraid of Earl Simon. There is a story that once when he 
was boating on the Thames River, a thunderstorm came 
up and he was obliged to take refuge in the nearest palace. 
The earl, who chanced to be a guest in the palace, assured 
the king that the storm was passing and there was nothing 
to fear. Henry burst forth with, "Lord Simon, I fear thun- 
der and lightning, but I fear you more than all the thunder 
and lightning in the world." 

The two Houses of Parliament are formed. Henry had 
good reason to fear Earl Simon, for when the quarrel be- 
tween king and people came to war, the earl was victorious. 
The barons had no wish to depose the king, but they obliged 
him to call a Parliament, which met in 1265. This Parlia- 
ment was different from all that had preceded it, for not 
only barons and bishops, but country gentlemen and citi- 
zens were asked to send representatives to it. Before this, 
only land owners had had a hand in making the laws; but 
now two citizens from every borough and city were sum- 
moned, and therefore merchants and traders were rep- 
resented. Every man in the kingdom had a voice in the 
government, for he had a right to vote for or against his 
proposed representative. This was only an extension of the 
idea of the village "moot," which elected men to represent 
the village in the hundred. Gradually the English lawmaker 
separated into two houses. The bishops, abbots, and greater 
lords formed the House of Lords; the lesser nobles and busi- 
ness men of the towns formed the House of Commons. 

Representative government in England. Edward I, 



io8 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



Henry's son, was a wise, shrewd sovereign. He carried on 
Earl Simon's idea of a Parliament that should really repre- 
sent the people. Moreover, he made a formal promise to 
his people that he would obey the Great Charter, and par- 
ticularly that he would collect no taxes without the consent 
of his council. 




THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT 

Such was the beginning of the representative government 
which the early immigrants brought to America. We have 
the town meeting, where every man has the right to speak 
and to vote. He helps elect men to represent him in the 
State legislature and also in Congress. 



STUDY SUGGESTIONS 

1. Was Charlemagne a faithful king? Why? 

2. Have you learned within the past week any new way of doing any- 
thing? Why did you adopt it? 

3. Think of the bravest person you know, and tejl how he showed hia 
bravery? What is bravery? 



HOW THE ENGLISH WON THEIR LIBERTIES 109 

4. Was William the Conqueror just in refusing to give land to those who 
would not swear to be faithful to him? 

5. Write what you think of William; then write it again, trying to use 
entirely different words. 

6. Read Act IV, Scene I, of Shakespeare's King John. 

7. What would happen to a judge in this country if he favored a man 
because of a bribe? 

8. Why would a good king have preferred an honest archbishop? 

9. Why should John have been angry at the articles read to him by 
Stephen Langton? 

10. Describe the signing of Magna Carta as if you had been present. 

11. Have we any document that we prize as the English prize Magna 
Carta? 

12. An Englishman writes to a friend his opinion of the king. 

13. Why is it a good plan for all classes of people to help make the laws? 

14. What ideas have you noted thus far that the early immigrants 
brought to America? 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

One of John's barons tells why he opposed the king. 

The discussion of the barons after Archbishop Langton read them the law 

of the land. 
What John thought of Magna Carta. 



CHAPTER IX 

HOW PEOPLE LIVED IN ENGLAND AND IN EUROPE DURING 
THE MIDDLE AGES 

The castles of the nobles. Many centuries had passed 
since the days of the Greeks, and ways of living and think- 
ing had changed in many respects. In most countries there 
was a general belief that the land belonged to the king, and 




A CASTLE IN SUSSEX, ENGLAN D 
(Built in the 14th century. The moat is shown in the foreground) 

that he had a right to allow whomsoever he chose to have 
the use of it. To pay for this privilege, the noble who re- 
ceived the land had to promise to fight for him. These 
nobles lived in massive castles with stone walls sometimes 
ten or fifteen feet in thickness. They were built for defense, 
for those were lawless times, and people had to be ready to 
protect themselves. The small castles consisted of little 



ENGLAND AND EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGES in 



more than a tower surrounded by a moat or wide, deep 
ditch full of water; but the large ones contained a number 
of rooms, and also, within the outer wall, perhaps a garden 
and an orchard, and even a forge, a church, a bakery, and 
a stable. 

Furnishings of the castles. These cold stone castles can- 
not have been very comfortable, but in some of them the 
furnishings were ex- 
ceedingly expensive. 
The beds were often 
set up high because 
rats ran around the 
floors; but the bed- 
posts were perhaps 
ornamented with 
precious stones. The 
table was of rough 
boards laid upon 
trestles ; but when 
the lord of the cas- 
tle could afford it, 
there were frequent- 
ly goblets of gold 
and silver flashing 
with jewels. People 
usually ate from 
wooden trenchers or 
trencher, a particularly 
forks were unknown. 

The castle hall. The hall, or living-room, had a great 
fireplace in the center. There were chairs and benches for 
seats, and on the walls was tapestry, sometimes picturing 
scenes from the Bible or the hunting-field or the lives of 
saints. The floor was covered with rushes, and almost never 




A DINNER IN THE HALL 



rude plates, two using the same 
unpleasant arrangement, since 



112 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



swept, so that a feast in a castle was an absurd mingling of 
luxury and filth. There was always something of interest 
going on in the hall. Here vassals, or those who held land 
of the lord of the castle on condition of service, came to 
"pay homage," that is, to kneel before him, their hands 
clasped in his, and promise to be faithful to him. Here 
wandering minstrels came to sing ballads and romances. 
After the dinner — at ten or eleven o'clock in the morning 
— there were sometimes games, such as backgammon, 
cards, chess, and checkers. 

The training of girls. Just as girls and boys are now sent 
to college or boarding school, so they were then sent from 

one noble family to an- 
other for training. The 
girls were taught to man- 
age a household, to sew 
and embroider, to card 
wool and spin and weave, 
to sing, to ride, and espe- 
cially to give "first aid" 
and understand nursing, 
for wounded knights were 
often in the care of the 
lady of the castle. 

The training of a page. 
Boys played ball and mar- 
bles and walked on stilts 
and see-sawed just like the 
boys of to-day, but their 
real business was learning 
to become knights. They were taught to ride, to leap over 
walls and ditches, to use sword and lance and bow, to swim 
and box and climb, and to understand hawking and hunt- 
ing. Possibly they learned also a little reading. These boys, 




A SQUIRE BECOMING A KNIGHT 



ENGLAND AND EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGES 113 



or pages, sometimes went to battle with their lords, but 
they were in no danger, for a knight who injured an un- 
armed page would have been disgraced forever. No matter 
how skillful a page had become in out-of-door exercises, 
he would have been looked upon as a boor unless he 
had also learned to play 
on the lute or lyre, to be 
gentle in manner, and es- 
pecially to be helpful and 
courteous to all women. 

The squire. At about 
fifteen, the page became a 
squire. His exercises were 
now more severe, and his 
weapons larger and heavier. 
He fought with his lord and 
came to his aid in every 
danger of the battlefield. 
If he had been long in serv- 
ice, he could call together 
a little band of men and 
lead them in battle under 
his own banner. 

The making of a knight. When the time came for the 
squire to be made a knight, he went through many cere- 
monies, each with a significance. He was bathed and dressed 
in a white tunic, for he must be pure; a red one, for he must 
be prompt to shed his blood in the service of God ; a black 
one to remind him of death. He fasted twenty-four hours, 
spent a night before the altar of some church, kneeling by 
his arms and praying. In the morning he partook of the 
Holy Sacrament, then in the presence of a troop of his friends 
he took a solemn oath to defend the Church and protect all 
women. His armor was now put upon him by knights and 




A KNIGHT IN ARMOR 



114 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



ladies. He knelt, and the lord who was to make him a 
knight struck him lightly with a sword on the shoulder or 
the nape of the neck and said, " In the name of God, of St. 
Michael, and of St. George, I dub thee knight. Be brave, 
ready, and loyal." So it was that the Church, the soldier, 

and the woman had 
each a share in the 
making of a knight. 
A tournament. 
The most exciting 
time at a castle was 
when a tournament, 
or combat of many 
knights, was held. 
A level, oblong area 
was fenced off, and 
this was called the 
lists. Knights had 
been invited long 
before, and they had 
come from through- 
out the land. They 
now sat on their 
horses at either end of the lists waiting eagerly for the signal. 
When the trumpets sounded, they dashed forward, each 
trying to unhorse his opponent by a thrust from his blunted 
spear. Minstrels played, trumpets blared, the din of arms 
and the cracking of stout ashen spears filled the air. Around 
the lists were galleries, and here sat the ladies brilliant in 
their handsomest clothes, watching eagerly, and each hoping 
that her own special champion might win glory and honor. 
After many such encounters, the heralds cried, "Fold 
your banners!" and soon the lists were deserted. Later 
came a banquet in the hall of the castle. Then the ladv who 




A TOURNAMENT 



ENGLAND AND EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGES 115 

had been chosen "Queen of Love and Beauty" presented 
to those who had unhorsed most knights in the contest such 
prizes as a silver helmet, a golden clasp, or perhaps a ruby 
in a heavy golden ring. After this came a ball, and with 
much music and dancing the long bright day came to its 
close. The laws of the tournament were exceedingly strict, 
both in respect to the weapons used and also in respect to 
the character of the contestants. No knight who had been 
false to a woman, or had shown himself ungrateful or a liar 
or a coward, was ever allowed to contend. 

The feudal system. The noble in the castle had received 
land from the king on condition of service, and he now let 
tenants use this land on the same condition, only his service 
was fighting and theirs was generally cultivating his estate 
or manor. This is what was called the feudal system. On 
each estate was a house for the lord of the manor or his 
agent. Then there were barns, a church, a windmill, a 
forge, a carpenter's shop, and the cottages for the tenants, 
wretched little cne-room sheds of clay without windows or 
chimneys. The land of the estate was divided into long 
narrow strips, and each tenant had a certain number of 
strips, not together but scattered. Even the farming land 
which the noble retained for his own use was scattered in 
the same way. 

The duties of the tenants. Some of these tenants paid 
rent in money and did no work for their lord. The others 
were called "villeins," from vill, a village, and they paid part 
of their rent in money or fowls or produce, and the rest in 
work on their lord's land. The lord kept an "extent," or 
list of tenants, stating just what work each one must do and 
what rent he paid. For instance, one man, in part payment, 
had to bring to the manor house four fish from the river each 
year, and also a goose at Christmas. Another, who evi- 
dently paid little or nothing in money, had to work for his 



n6 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

lord three days a week for eleven months of the year, save 
for a week at Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide, and find 
his own food. At harvest time, each worker might have 
three handfuls for every load of grain that he brought in. 
Besides all the regular work, there was also "boon-work," 
or extra work, in time of ploughing, planting, and harvest 
— just when the villeins especially needed the time to work 
on their own little farms. 




PEASANTS OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY 

Troubles of the villeins. Farm work was exceeding! y hard 
in those days because the implements were rude and clumsy. 
The ploughs, for example, were made of wood and were so 
heavy that eight oxen were needed to draw them, and even 
then they cut into the ground so little way that a second 
ploughing was often necessary. 

The villeins were obliged to grind their grain in their 
lord's mill, bake their bread in his oven, press their grapes 
in his wine press, and of course pay well for the privilege. 



ENGLAND AND EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGES 117 

They had to pay for cutting wood and letting their pigs 
run in the forest, for using their lord's weights and measures, 
and often for catching fish in any river or pond that chanced 
to be on the manor. They were forbidden to sell any of their 
produce until that of their lord had been disposed of. They 
could not leave the manor, and if it passed into the hands 
of a new lord, they went with it as much as the cattle and 
pigs. There was no use in running away, for the country 
was divided into manors, each with its villeins, and there 
was nowhere for a runaway to go and no way for him to 
earn his bread. A boy could escape in only one way. If he 
wished to become a priest and showed the necessary ability, 
the Church stood by him, and the lord of the manor had to 
let him go free. 

Advantages of manor life. With the exception of salt, 
very little had to be brought into the manor from the out- 
side world. Hemp and wool were spun, woven, and made 
into clothes on the spot. Skins were tanned and made into 
shoes. The huts of the tenants were easily built by the car- 
penter, and the tools and farming implements were made 
and mended by the blacksmith. The manor, then, was quite 
sufficient to itself; and it had one other advantage, it was 
safe. There was no strong central government, and each 
little corner of the land had to look out for its own safety. 
It was a great thing, then, for a poor man to have some one 
to protect him. Why did he not protect himself? Because 
it had never occurred to any one that a man could be a sol- 
dier unless he was rich enough to have a horse and armor 
and be trained at some castle to become a knight. 

Why the manor system disappeared. As time passed, 
however, several things happened that changed all this. 
Between the eleventh and the thirteenth centuries, many 
knights went on crusades, or expeditions to try to drive the 
Turks from the Holy Land. They needed so much money 



Ii8 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



that they were very glad to have as many tenants as pos- 
sible pay their rent in money instead of in work. Indeed, 
sometimes they insisted upon this being done. The villeins, 
for their part, were so eager to get rid of work that most of 
them tried their best to pay. Another thing that came to 
pass was that in a great battle with the French the English 
won the day not by the prowess of the knights on horseback, 




OLD MANOR HOUSE 



but by the valor of men on foot who had only bows and 
arrows. A third thing was that a terrible disease called the 
Black Death swept over the land and killed so many that 
every manor was ready to take in new workmen and not 
to question them too closely about where they came from. 
Then, too, if a man did not care to work on a manor, he 
could make his way to a city, and as fine weaving had now 
been introduced, he could easily support himself as a 
weaver. So it was that the manor system gradually disap- 
peared, and with it the whole feudal system, that is, the 
belief that the land of a nation belongs to its ruler and that 



ENGLAND AND EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGES 119 



people receive it from him on condition of giving him serv- 
ice. The system has disappeared, but it still affects our 
laws, for if a man dies without heirs, his property goes to 
the State. 

Life in town. Town life was quite different from life on a 
manor. "Safety first" was its motto, for those were dan- 
gerous times, and therefore many towns were protected by 
heavy stone walls with 




watchtowers where men 
were always on guard. Por- 
tions of the walls of Ches- 
ter and Oxford in England 
are standing. The old gates 
of York are especially 
picturesque with their 
tall watchtowers. Car-cas- 
sonne' in France has a 
double line of ramparts 
and towers, as if the whole 
town was a fortress. In 
Nu'rem-berg in Germany, 
the walls, about one hun- 
dred towers, and many old 
gates remain, and the town 
looks as if it had just 
stepped out of the Middle 
Ages. Outside the walls of 
a city was a moat or deep ditch which was usually kept 
full of water. The city gates were carefully guarded. Be- 
yond the walls were fields and forests and gardens; and 
indeed there were many gardens and even orchards within 
the walls. A town might have been a very pleasant place, 
but unfortunately the good folk of the Middle Ages had 
little notion of what it meant to keep clean, and they heaped 



OLD TOWN GATE IN LOCHES, FRANCE 

(Built in the Middle Ages) 



120 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

up rubbish in front of their doors and let their pigs wander 
about the narrow, crooked streets at their own sweet will. 
There was as much variety in the houses as there is to-day, 
for some were comfortable residences of brick, and others 
were mere hovels of mud with thatched roofs. Some were 
ornamented with plaster decorations and painted panels. 
When the owner could afford it, he used glass in his win- 
dows; but if this was too costly for his purse, he filled in 
the opening with lattice work, or did not fill it in at all. 
There was always a town or gild hall, and in many cities, 
especially Paris, London, and Bru'ges, these halls were very 
handsome and a great source of pride to the citizens. 

How to become a master craftsman. Most of the towns- 
folk were craftsmen, namely, carpenters, masons, black- 
smiths, and other manufacturers of various articles. To 
become a craftsman required a long training. If a boy 
wished to become a blacksmith, for instance, he was ap- 
prenticed to some master blacksmith, that is, a formal 
agreement was drawn up and signed that the boy would be 
obedient and diligent, and that the master would teach him 
the trade, board and clothe him. After the boy had become 
a good workman, he was called a journeyman, from the 
French word journee, meaning day or day's work, because 
he worked by the day. To become a master and have the 
right to teach apprentices and employ journeymen, he 
must first present to the society or gild of blacksmiths a 
"masterpiece," or piece of work so well done that they 
would accept it. 

The craft gilds. Every trade had its own gild, and these 
gilds did a great deal for their members. If a gildsman was 
sick or poor, the gild helped him ; if he died in poverty, the 
gild paid his funeral expenses and cared for his family. The 
gild also saw to it that he had work. This was managed by 
limiting the number of apprentices admitted to any one 



ENGLAND AND EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGES 121 

trade. The gilds were composed of wise people. They un- 
derstood well that it never pays in the end for a man to do 
poor work, and so they saw to it that the work of their 
members was good. If a baker made his loaves of bread 
too small, he was fined or expelled. The gild had the right 
to examine not only the finished work, but also the materials 
that a man was using; and a shoemaker, for instance, who 
was making shoes of poor leather ran a great risk of being 
shut out of his gild and having no shoes to make. It was 
strictly forbidden to work at night, because lights were 
poor and the work could not be well done. 

Merchant gilds. Besides craftsmen, there were also many 
merchants dwelling in the towns. Generally, they used the 
fronts of their houses for stores. Merchants, too, formed 
gilds — indeed, in those times people did not seem to be 
able to do any sort of work unless they formed a society 
for that special object. The merchant gilds examined the 
merchants' goods to make sure that their quality or weight 
or measure was honest. If two members disagreed, the gild 
settled the dispute. It prevented strangers from selling 
goods in town unless they paid toll, and looked out in every 
way for honest dealing and the advantage of the gildsman. 

How goods were sold. Besides the stores in the towns, 
there were three other ways in which goods could be sold; 
in markets, by peddlers, and in fairs. Markets were held in 
many towns from one to three times a week. Permission 
must be obtained from the king, and this permission was of 
considerable value, for every man who wished to sell goods 
had to pay a fee unless his home was in the town. When 
market day came, people flocked from all the country 
around. Stalls and booths were set up for some of those 
who sold. Others sat on low stools with eggs or butter or 
poultry in front of them and waited for customers. A cross 
of wood or stone was usually reared in the market-place, 



122 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



and often a glove or hat or sword belonging to the king was 
put upon it to show to all comers that the place was under 
the special protection of the sovereign. This was more than 
an empty show, for every one who committed any offense 
during market time had to pay not only the usual penalty, 
but also a good-sized fine. 

Peddlers. Many goods were sold in the country by ped- 
dlers who went to castles, manor houses, convents, and cot- 
tages. It was a great day for the country folk when the 

peddler stopped his 
horse or mule at their 
door and took down 
his boxes and bundles 
and spread out a pa- 
rade of caps, gloves, 
purses, hoods for men, 
headdresses for wom- 
en, pewter pots, and 
even musical instru- 
ments. These peddlers 
did not bear a good 
reputation for honesty, 
but they were a great 
convenience. 

The great fairs. Best 
of all the opportunities 
for selling goods were 
the great fairs. When 
the hour of opening had arrived, a trumpet was blown, and 
trade began at once. It was a brisk trade, for there was a 
great variety of goods, and many people laid in their stock 
of luxuries for a whole year, such as salt, spices, wine, fur, 
and linen. Then there were velvets, silks, satins, ribbons, 
iron goods, horses, cattle, wool, grain, glass, copper, honey, 




LENDIT FAIR IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY 



ENGLAND AND EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGES 123 

oil, armor — these are only a very few of the articles that 
were for sale. There were all sorts of amusements and side- 
shows, such as jugglers with their sleight-of-hand tricks, 
minstrels, wrestlers, dancing bears, and acrobats who danced 
on their hands rather than their feet. There was little 
cheating at fairs, for all weights and measures were care- 
fully tested ; the wine and ale had to be of a certain strength, 
and the loaves of bread must weigh a fixed amount. More- 
over, if a dealer was caught cheating, not only that one 
man, but all the dealers from his home town were held 
responsible to make the buyer whole. 

Fairs were a great help in keeping prices reasonable. If 
only a little glass or wax, for instance, was brought into a 
town and much was needed, the price would naturally be 
high; but people would say, " It will soon be fair time, and 
we will wait," and then, as the number of buyers became 
few, the price would go down. But a much greater benefit 
of the fairs was that people met folk from other countries 
and learned to know a little of what was in the world. 

STUDY SUGGESTIONS 

1. In what respects should you prefer an American house as a heme 
and in what should you prefer a castle? 

2. Describe a visit to a castle hall. 

3. Do you think it desirable or not for children to be brought up in the 
family of strangers? Why? 

4. Was the education of the boys of the castle better in any respect than 
ours? Did it lack anything? 

5. How would it do to introduce the laws of the tourn ment into our 
games of to-day? 

6. Why did each man on a manor have his strips scattered? 

7. How did the life of the villeins compare with thr„t of farmers to-day? 

8. Can you think of any reasons for the rules of the manor? 

9. If some children were left on a desert island, how could they introduce 
the feudal system? Could they do anything better? 

10. In what respects are our houses better than those of the town folk 0/ 
the Middle Ages? 



124 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

11. Why did the gilds insist upon their members doing good work? 

12. Describe the coming of a peddler to the hall of a castle. 

13. Describe a visit to a fair. 

14. Was it a good plan to make all dealers from a town responsible if one 
of their townsmen was a cheat? How would this help to keep men 
honest? 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

A day in a castle. 

A tenant tells why he left the manor and how he became free. 

An apprentice tells how he became a master. 

A visit to a fair. 

The coming of a peddler. 



CHAPTER X 

THE CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES 

Gothic cathedrals. During the Middle Ages, or from the 
eighth to the fifteenth century, many magnificent churches 
and cathedrals were built. This was the time when what is 
known as Gothic architecture came into fashion. In other 
styles of building the rounded arch is often used, but the 
Gothic is marked by the pointed arch. The famous cathe- 
dral at Rheims was one of the finest specimens of Gothic 
architecture, though the towers of the original plan were 
never built. The cathedral at Cologne (ko-lon') has pointed 
arches at the doors and windows and the pillars are in 
clusters, instead of standing separately as in the Roman 
and Greek buildings. In these Gothic churches there are 
often outside supports to the walls known as flying but- 
tresses. There are many slender pinnacles and a vast 
amount of carving. These churches are rich and splendid 
and have a wonderful look of lightness and grace. Canter- 
bury Cathedral stands where used to be the church which 
the British king gave to St. Augustine when he came to 
teach Christianity to the Britons. 

Decorations used in churches. The churches of the Mid- 
dle Ages were decorated with beautiful mosaics, carving, 
painting, embroidery, and colored glass. Sometimes the 
inner walls of a church were covered with fresco, that is, 
when the plaster on them was damp, it was painted with 
water colors. The walls of Gothic churches were broken by 
many windows ; and here was a fine opportunity for colored 
glass. Statues were everywhere, ranging all the way from 



126 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



tiny ornamental figures to life-size memorial statues for 
tombs. The space between the top of the door and the 




:# 







CATHEDRAL AT RHEIMS 



angle of the roof, the pediment, was often carved in bas- 
relief, like that of the Parthenon. Scenes from the Bible and 
legends of the saints were used as subjects, for this building 



THE CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES 



127 



and decorating were done under the orders of the clergy, and 
they never forgot that the church was the school of the 
common people. 

The power of the Church. All this magnificence was quite 
different from the gloomy little chapels in the catacombs 
where the early Christians 
used to worship. There 
had been many changes 
since those days. The 
power of Rome became 
less and less, but the power 
of the Church became more 
and more. It has already 
been said that if a boy on 
a manor showed himself 
able and willing to become 
a priest, the Church had 
power enough to oblige 
the lord of the manor to 
set him free. This power 
increased until it was much 
greater than that held by 
any sovereign. The Church 

was well organized, that is, every officer knew his work and 
his exact position. There was first of all the Pope, who lived 
in Rome and was the head of the Church. Under him were 
many bishops, each of whom had charge of a diocese or see, 
a definite area of country. The chief church of the diocese 
was called a cathedral. Under the bishops were clergymen 
and monks. 

The rule of St. Benedict. Monks were men who lived to- 
gether in monasteries apart from the world. On entering, 
they promised to hold no property, not to marry, and to 
obey the convent rules. In the monastery of St. Alban, in 




POPE CLEMENT IV (1265-1268) 



128 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



England, as in a very great number of convents, what is 
known as the rule of St. Benedict was followed. According 
to this, the time of the monks was devoted to prayer, work, 
and study. They took turns serving in the kitchen; they 
could receive neither letters nor presents without the abbot's 
permission; they had simple but sufficient food. If any one 
of them was sent on a journey, he was not allowed to gossip 

on his return of what he had seen 
or heard. Each convent was to 
have its own well, mill, garden, and 
bakery, and so avoid as far as pos- 
sible having communication with 
the outside world. 

The founding of Cluny. As time 
passed, the rules were no longer 
strictly obeyed. Individual monks 
could not hold property, but the 
convent as a whole could hold an 
unlimited amount. Kings and no- 
bles made generous gifts. Often a 
convent held a number of manors 
and became a power in the country. 
It became also a somewhat luxuri- 
ous place. Some of the more earn- 
est folk did not believe that this 
was right, and they founded a house 
at Cluny, in France, in order to have a more strict rule 
of life. Other Cluniac convents were soon opened, until 
there were fully two thousand of them scattered over many 
countries. 

The making of books. Cluny, and many other convents, 
carried on schools for boys, and sometimes hundreds were 
taught by the monks. The books used in these schools were 
all written on parchment, for printing had not yet been in- 




BENEDICTINE MONK 



THE CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES 



129 



vented. Besides these, the monks copied books to use in 
church, to sell, and for their own library; though nowadays 
we should hardly call one of their scanty collections of vol- 
umes a library. There was always a writing- room, and there 
the monks sat day after day, writing laboriously in a beau- 
tiful clear print. The capital letters at the beginning of the 
chapters were often elaborately painted with gold and 
bright colors that are just 
as brilliant now as when 
they were first put on. 

The work of the monks. 
There was plenty of work 
in a monastery. Wool and 
flax must be grown, spun, 
woven, and made into 
clothes. Cattle must be 
raised and the skins tanned 
for shoes. Vegetables and 
fruit had to be cared for. 
Bees were kept for honey. 
Some one person had to 

be responsible for each kind of work. At the head of the 
whole establishment was the abbot, and next to him the 
prior. The chamberlain kept the accounts and records 
and took charge of the money and clothing. The librarian 
cared for the books and was at the head of the writing- 
room. The sacristan kept the gold and jeweled vessels of 
the Church service and the relics of the saints. It was no 
small matter to look after food and drink for hundreds of 
people, young and old, sick and well. This was the work 
of the cellarer. Then, too, he must be always ready for 
guests of every degree, from kings to peddlers, for the 
monastery took the place of a hotel; and he must treat 
every one according to his rank and make no mistakes. 




A MONK WRITING 



130 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



The poor and needy flocked about the convent gate, and 
the almoner must see that they were fed. If they were 
ill, he turned them over to the infirmarius. Longfellow's 
Legend Beautiful is about a monk whose turn it was to care 
for the hungry at the gate. 





Jgk ijwntr Kw& y®wrc\j> 
> Jiftmoiv'qtte ott tcxttfs <jne 
las ig^ mwimt^nCC'twnc. e£ 

iwumt. \vp anott cetou* U cay if 
toUlJtviCttttelJjSttte cf auoittiotv 
<mv^ batons qvtfeffoitteliUtfy 
n5Smbicn5. <r^3*nti<a*t<rtrto 
orocjruirttfrmtte ts atoTi'attit eft 
aflaumr aui&'qiiefly ot affte^ 
'jnes tetftme iirtns btte cite qu/ 
cftottr flflxke aalnnia . X a queie 
crte ajn<tf tncmlt tetnomucn^ 
m* <e i£trt> v a rftme ^ar tel cot? 
ttfttanfc que il ferment rihrite 
letmnc. 



THE BEGINNING OF A CHAPTER 



The value of the monasteries to the world. Besides all 
the work that has been so briefly mentioned, the monks 
built roads and bridges; they were the most skillful farmers 
of their time, and they drained swamps, cleared away for- 
ests, and made waste places into fruitful land. They main- 
tained interest in education, and they kept classical liter- 



THE CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES 131 

ature from being forgotten. Moreover, the mere fact that 
self-denying monks existed was a constant reminder that 
riches and pleasure were nothing in comparison with lives 
made pleasing to God. 

STUDY SUGGESTIONS 

1. Can you find any pointed arches or round arches or flying buttresses 
in your own town? 

2. Have you seen any bas-reliefs on buildings, or dishes, or jewelry, or 
elsewhere? 

3. Is there any museum or library near, where you can see some of the 
old parchments with colored capital letters? Look over your Christ- 
mas cards for colored capitals. 

4. Can you tell what processes flax or wool must go through before it 
is ready to be woven into cloth? Is there a woolen mill near which 
you can visit? 

5. Why should kings and nobles have made gifts to convents? 

6. Were the monks good business men? Give proof. 

7. In Longfellow's Legend Beautiful, why did the monk leave the 
Vision? Did he do right? 

8. Why were the monks of great value to the world? 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

Describe a Gothic cathedral from some picture. 
A day in a monastery. 
The guests of a convent. 



CHAPTER XI 



PILGRIMAGES, CRUSADES, AND COMMERCE 

Why people went on pilgrimage. During the Middle 
Ages, making a pilgrimage or journey to some holy place 
was much in fashion. People often went in the hope that 

by praying before a 
certain shrine they 
would be cured of 
any disease that 
was troubling them. 
Sometimes they 
made a vow to go if 
they were rescued 
from danger. Some 
went purely from 
honestdevotion, and 
others went ' 'strange 
countries for to see." 
There was as much 
difference in people 
then as there is now. 
Pilgrims at Canterbury. In England, pilgrims often went 
to the Cathedral of Canterbury, the shrine of St. Thomas a 
Becket, and it was said that sometimes one hundred thou- 
sand persons were in the place at once. These pilgrims liked 
to carry home souvenirs as well as travelers do to-day, and 
they frequently bought a silver or pewter head of St. 
Thomas, or a tiny lead or pewter flask containing water 
with which it was said some of his blood had been mixed, 




A GROUP OF CANTERBURY PILGRIMS 



PILGRIMAGES, CRUSADES, AND COMMERCE 133 

and which was believed to be a cure for illness. Pilgrims 
who went to Rome often brought home a veronica, that is, 
a representation of the face of Christ on a handkerchief. 
Those who went to a certain shrine in Spain carried away 
with them a scallop shell. Chaucer's Canterbury Tales is 
a collection of stories supposed to be told by a company of 
pilgrims on their way to Canterbury, for, as one of them 
says in the story, there is no pleasure in riding along the 
way as dumb as a stone. Even people who were most sin- 
cere in their devotion agreed with him, and so a pilgrimage 
was often a happy, merry journey. 

The pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Almost everybody made a 
pilgrimage somewhere in the course of his life, but the pil- 
grimage was to Jerusalem, to the shrine of the Holy Sep- 
ulchre; and the person who had made it was thought to be 
sure of entering heaven when he died. This pilgrimage was 
believed to benefit his gild as well as himself, and when he 
said good-bye, each member presented him with a piece of 
money. Sometimes the whole gild walked a little way with 
him. A pilgrim was safer than any other traveler, for who- 
ever did him an injury was forbidden the benefits of the 
Church. On the roads leading to holy places there were rest 
stations, where a pilgrim might have a night's lodging with- 
out price. Convents were frequent, and at any one of these 
he was welcome to fire, water, and lodging, and food, too, if 
he needed it. Indeed, for a long while he was welcome every- 
where, for it was believed that to help a pilgrim secured a 
blessing for one's self. 

Information carried by pilgrims. Pilgrimage was so 
popular that almost as soon as a person had set out, he met 
others bound on the same journey, and sometimes hundreds 
or even thousands of persons went together. When these 
pilgrims returned, they had many stories to tell of the 
countries through which they had passed, and of the build- 



134 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

ings, manners and customs that were different from those 
at home ; and so many went that a good deal of information 
was carried from one country to another. 

The Turks in Jerusalem. Some of this information was 
not at all pleasant. For several centuries the Turks, who 
were followers of Mohammed, had ruled Jerusalem. These 
Turks were not unwilling to admit pilgrims to the city, for 
they left considerable money behind them when they went 
away. They even permitted Christians to make their 
homes in Jerusalem, provided they paid a large tax, dressed 
differently from the Turks, and did not put a cross on the 
outside of any of their buildings. They must also treat the 
Mohammedans with profound respect and rise if one ap- 
peared among them. Some of the rulers were cruel to them, 
and some were kind. The best of them was Haroun al Ras- 
chid, the "caliph" of the Arabian Nights. At length, the 
city together with the rest of Syria fell into the hands of the 
Sel-ju'ki-an Turks, a barbarous folk who hated the Chris- 
tians; and now when pilgrims came home, they had terrible 
tales to tell of Christians having been tortured and mur- 
dered. 

Peter the Hermit arouses the French. One of these pil- 
grims was a monk called Peter the Hermit. He told Pope 
Urban II of the awful sufferings of the pilgrims, and the 
Pope declared that the Holy City must be rescued. Peter 
set out to arouse the people of France. He wore a coarse 
woolen shirt and a gray mantle. He was bareheaded and 
barefooted. He rode upon a mule and carried a huge cross in 
his arms. So it was that he went throughout France preach- 
ing to the people. "Repent! Repent!" he cried. "He who 
strikes a blow to rescue the Holy Land from the unbelievers 
has thrown open the door of heaven for himself." 

Pope Urban at Clermont. Pope Urban called a great 
meeting of the Church at Clermont, France. Thousands 



PILGRIMAGES, CRUSADES, AND COMMERCE 135 

came together, so many that no building could hold them, 
and they met on a wide-spreading plain. "Cease making 
war with one another, and strive against the Turks," he 
said. " Do not refuse for love of your families, for you must 
love God more than these. Do not refuse because of your 
wealth ; for much richer treasures await you. Those who die 




PETER THE HERMIT HANDING LETTER FROM SIMEON, PATRIARCH OF 
JERUSALEM, TO POPE URBAN II 

will enter the mansions of heaven. Fortunate are they who 
may enter such a conflict and share the glorious rewards 
that are set before them." "God wills it! God wills it!" 
cried the people, and they pressed forward to have fastened 
to their clothing the red cross that was to be the sign of their 
having entered upon the holy undertaking. The Latin 
word for cross is crux, and therefore these expeditions to 
drive the Turks from the Holy Land were called crusades. 
The first crusade. Thousands of people set out for Syria. 
The Pope had told none but strong men to go; but whole 



136 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



families, even aged persons and little children, started. 
Tenants on the manors, debtors and criminals in prisons, 
all went; for when they cried, "God wills it!" no one dared 
to hold them back. Of course many died on the long, hard 
journey; but the stronger ones, who reached Jerusalem, 
succeeded in capturing the city. They were as cruel to the 




CRUSADERS SETTING SAIL FOR JERUSALEM 

Turks as the Turks had been to them, and it was said that 
the horses of the conquerors waded up to their knees in the 
blood of the defenders of the city. 

The third crusade. This was the first crusade. About one 
hundred years later, the Turks again captured Jerusalem. 
Then Europe was aroused indeed, and another crusade set 
out. The German ruler, Frederick Bar-bar-os'sa, started 
first, but died on the way. A little later, Philip of France 
and Richard the Lionhearted of England set out for the 
Holy Land. It was while Richard was absent that his 



PILGRIMAGES, CRUSADES, AND COMMERCE 137 

brother John Lackland tried to steal the English crown, and 
this was thought to be doubly wicked because Richard was 
on a crusade. 

Richard and Saladin. Richard was so fearless a soldier 
that traditions of his amazing deeds of prowess were handed 
down, growing larger and more wonderful as the centuries 
passed. One was that he fought one to twenty, and slew 
every man of the twenty. Even to this day, if a horse is 
restless, its Turkish rider will say, "Do you think you see 
King Richard?" Richard's foe, Sal'a-din, leader of the 
Turks, was a gallant opponent. When Richard was ill of 
a fever, Saladin sent him ice ; and when Richard's horse had 
been killed, the generous Turk presented him with two 
valuable Arab horses. 

Quarrels among the leaders. Unfortunately, Richard 
had a hot temper, and it never occurred to him to yield a 
point now and then for the sake of the cause for which they 
were fighting. The city of Acre (a'ker) was taken, and the 
Duke of Austria set up his banner on the wall beside Rich- 
ard's. Then Richard was indignant that a duke should dare 
to put his banner beside that of a king, and he had it torn 
down. Richard was once helping his men to build a fort, 
for he was never afraid to work with his own royal hands. 
He asked the duke to help. "I am neither carpenter nor 
mason," replied the duke scornfully. Thereupon Richard 
struck him, and he went home in a rage. Philip was jealous 
because Richard was getting all the glory of the expedition, 
so there was more quarreling, and Philip went home. Rich- 
ard realized how unwise he had been, for now he had not 
men enough to take Jerusalem. The utmost that could be 
done was to make a treaty with Saladin by which pilgrims 
might be allowed to go freely to the Holy City. 

BlondePs discovery of Richard. Then the English king 
set out for his own country. On his way he was wrecked on 



138 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



the shore of the Adriatic Sea. He was in the midst of ene- 
mies, but he put on a rough gray cloak and round felt hat, 
slung a bag for bread over his shoulder, took in his hand a 
long staff with a water bottle hanging from it, and started 
to go through Germany as a pilgrim. There is a legend that 
near Vienna some one caught sight of a valuable ring on his 
finger, suspected who he might be, and told Duke Leopold. 
The duke was delighted to put him into prison, but gave 




KING RICHARD IN COMBAT 



him up to the German emperor, who had also had a quarrel 
with him. The restless crusader king was kept in prison, 
and for a while no one knew where he could be. There is a 
story that Richard had a favorite minstrel named Blondel, 
and that the two used to sing together in the happy times 
when the king was free. This Blondel grieved so at the loss 
of his king that at length he set out in search of him. A 
minstrel was w r elcome wherever he chose to go, and Blondel 
went from castle to castle, singing for the nobles, keeping 



PILGRIMAGES, CRUSADES, AND COMMERCE 139 

his eyes open, and asking as many questions as he dared. 
At last he heard that in the tower of a certain castle there 
was a prisoner of high rank who was guarded night and day 
by four men with drawn swords. Blondel went hopefully to 
the tower, and took his stand under the grated window far 
above him. There he sang softly an air which he had com- 
posed for his sovereign. Richard heard it, and sang the 
second verse — the king had been found at last. 

Why Richard was kept in prison. There were two men 
who were anxious to keep Richard in prison. One was Philip 
of France, for he thought that if Richard was out of the way 
he himself could get possession of Normandy. The other 
was John Lackland, Richard's brother, for he thought that 
if Richard was kept out of England, no one would dare to 
interfere with his own rule. These two went about their 
schemes. Philip accused Richard of various crimes, and 
John offered the emperor a large sum of money to hold 
Richard for trial. 

Richard is ransomed. Richard was brought before the 
council, and so easily proved himself innocent that the whole 
assembly declared he must be set free. This the emperor 
had to agree to do, but he demanded an enormous ransom, 
enormous for even a kingdom to raise. But the English 
people did not grumble. They were very proud of their 
crusader sovereign, the ideal knight, and they raised the 
money willingly, and gave him a joyous welcome when he 
appeared in England. Every one was glad but John. This 
disloyal brother was alarmed, as he well deserved to be, and 
threw himself at Richard's feet, begging for pardon. Rich- 
ard generously forgave him ; but he understood John's char- 
acter, and he said afterwards, " I hope I shall as easily forget 
his injuries as he will my pardon." 

The value of the crusades. There were several other cru- 
sades after those that have been mentioned. In one way 



140 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

they amounted to very little, for the Turks finally succeeded 
in getting Jerusalem and in holding it ; but in another way 
they amounted to a great deal, for by means of them people 
began to find out what there was in the world. Just imagine 
a man who had spent his life working on a little manor 
farm, or a lord in a castle, for that matter, journeying across 
Europe and "seeing the world" for the first time! Actually, 
some of the first crusaders had so little idea of the distance 
from France or England or Germany to Jerusalem that they 
set out with hunting dogs and with falcons on their wrists, 
as if for a day's hunting, and every night they went to sleep 
expecting to reach Syria the next day. To these people even 
sugar cane and trees loaded with oranges and pomegranates 
and "sand which is changed into transparent vases" were 
marvels. 

Many of the crusaders had gone to Venice to take ship 
to cross the Mediterranean, and there they had seen superb 
structures of colored marble. The outside of the Venetian 
palaces was generally adorned with bas-relief, the sculpture 
covered with gold leaf, and the ground-work a deep, rich 
blue. Of Constantinople with its brilliantly colored domes 
and minarets a German historian said , ' ' Such magnificence 
could not be believed were it not seen." When the crusaders 
came home, what marvelous tales they must have told of 
these sights! It is no wonder that the people who listened to 
them longed to visit the strange countries and were restless 
to go somewhere and see something different from what 
was in their own little corner of the world. 

The learning of the Saracens. The Saracens or Arabs 
were folk of much scientific knowledge. They understood 
the culture of sugar, cotton, and rice. They could raise 
silkworms and weave exquisite silks, they could work iron 
into swords that would bend double and yet not break, and 
they understood how to irrigate the ground. Somewhere 



242 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

on their journeys, either in the East or by way of Spain, 
the crusaders learned about windmills, and found that they 
provided a cheap and easy power for doing work that did 
not need to be done at any particular time. They brought 
home also a bit of knowledge that the Saracens are thought 
to have borrowed from India, the use of Arabic figures and 
of the decimal system, a most valuable improvement upon 
the old way of writing numbers. The Roman way of writing 
191 8, for instance, was mcmxviii. This was so clumsy and 
unmanageable a method that the Romans had to use in 
their calculations an abacus, or board with beads strung 
on wires. 

How the crusades stimulated commerce. The crusaders 
had become somewhat familiar with the luxuries of the 
East, had learned to like them, and wanted them after they 
returned to their homes. On the other hand, some of them 
did not return, but decided to remain in the East. Of course 
they wanted much that they had been used to having at 
home. The natural result of this was that trade between 
East and West increased rapidly, and before long crusaders 
could illustrate their stories with the real articles that they 
had been describing. 

Routes of the merchants. At the time when King John 
had to sign Magna Carta, great quantities of goods were 
brought from India to Europe. It was a long, slow journey. 
They were carried up the Persian Gulf to the Ti'gris River, 
then taken to Antioch or Seleucia and loaded upon vessels 
for Venice. Another way was to carry them overland by 
camels from the Tigris to Treb'i-zond on the Black Sea, 
where they were met by Venetian vessels. Still another 
way was to sail from India to Aden, up the Red Sea, over- 
land to the Nile, down the Nile to Cairo (ki'ro), by canal to 
Alexandria, where the cargo was put on board the ships of 
the Venetians. From Venice, and a little later, Gen'o-a, 



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144 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

these goods were carried to northern and western countries, 
some merchants going around through the Straits of 
Gi-bral'tar, and some going by way of the Danube and the 
Rhine Rivers. By this trade, both Venice and Genoa be- 
came rich and powerful. This is the way in which goods 
were carried to the great fairs that have already been men- 
tioned. As little as possible of the journey was made by 
land, for the roads were exceedingly poor. Moreover, they 
were dangerous, for some r.oble would frequently pounce 
down upon a merchant who was passing his castle and 
make him give up part of his goods for " toll," as it was called. 
Certainly, the best way to travel was by water. 

Products of East and West are exchanged. As time went 
on, Venetian vessels made regular trips to Flanders and 
to London, each ship with thirty well-skilled archers for its 
defense. These ships brought to England cotton and sugar 
from Egypt, spices, camphor, perfumes, Cashmere shawls, 
precious stones, rich hangings for houses, handsome rugs, 
and glassware. The Venetians had carried the crusaders 
back and forth across the Mediterranean, and they had 
been learning how to make beautiful glass and how to weave 
silk and satin and velvet. They had brought to Italy most 
exquisite pieces of work in iron and gold and enamel, and 
from these they had learned to do such work themselves. 
In England, it was taken for granted that anything espe- 
cially nice and dainty had come from Italy. England had 
little to return that was as delicate and beautiful as was 
brought by the Italian fleets, but she had plenty of wool 
and leather and cloth and metal, just the necessary and 
substantial things that were called for in the East. Foreign 
settlers came to England, and there were even strong and 
wealthy gilds of foreigners. Before long, England had her 
own merchant vessels. 

The influence of the crusades. The crusades did a great 



PILGRIMAGES, CRUSADES, AND COMMERCE 145 

deal to break up the feudal system ; they taught the East 
and West to know each other and to exchange their prod- 
ucts; they encouraged navigation and aroused interest in 
geographical discovery; and they gave power to the com- 
mon people. Moreover, the Saracens had libraries and uni- 
versities; they were deeply interested in the learning of the 
Greeks and studied it eagerly while it was quite unknown 
to the nations of the West. The crusaders did not become 
students of the universities or learn to read Greek or Arabic, 
but they did go back to their manors and castles and towns 
with minds full of new ideas. Before this, they had thought 
that a man encased in armor, carrying a sword and a lance, 
and set upon a horse, was the greatest hero on earth. Now 
they began to have a glimmering idea that the man who 
had noble thoughts and could put them into noble words 
was greater than the man with the sword. 

STUDY SUGGESTIONS 

1. If you have the Chaucer Story Book, read one of the stories and tell 
it to the class. 

2. Which shrine should you rather have visited? Why? 

3. Describe the visit of a pilgrim to a convent. 

4. What did Peter the Hermit say to the Pope? 

5. What do we mean by a temperance crusade? 

6. Which do you like best, Philip, Richard, or Saladin? Have you read 
Scott's Talisman with its stories of Richard and Saladin? 

7- Why did the English people think so much of Richard? 

8. What is the most interesting scene in this chapter? 

9. What scenes would make good pictures? 

10. Would Richard be called an ideal man to-day? 

11. Can you think of some story of his travels that a villein might have 
told on his return home? 

12. How would these stories make the listeners feel? 

13. Why are camels especially valuable in desert journeys? 

14. Which of the three ways from the East should you choose? Why? 

15. How does it make a city rich to have much trade? 

16. How did the crusades begin to change the ideal hero? 



i 4 6 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

A pilgrimage to Canterbury. 

Richard and the Duke of Austria. 

What Blondel reported to the English people. 

A crusader's story. 

An Englishman tells what has been learned from the Saracens. 

A journey with a merchant. 



CHAPTER XII 

THE BEGINNINGS OF DISCOVERY 

Interest in the East. The people of western Europe en- 
joyed the luxuries of the East of course, and they were 
deeply interested in the knowledge of eastern lands which 
came to them through pilgrims, crusaders, and merchants. 
They were eager to learn more of these countries, and 
especially to discover some way by which the luxuries 
might be brought to them at less expense. Was there no 
shorter way to India, they questioned. In 1453 something 
happened which increased their interest, namely, Constanti- 
nople was captured by the Turks. In this city many Greek 
scholars had made their homes. They would not live under 
Turkish rule, and therefore large numbers of them took 
their precious copies of the writings of the ancient Greeks 
and hurried away elsewhere, chiefly to Italy. During the 
Middle Ages there had been so much fighting that these 
writings had been almost forgotten, and now they seemed 
like some wonderful new discovery. Then, too, printing 
was invented about that time, and these old manuscripts 
and other writings were printed. People were aroused and 
excited. They began to feel as if they had been slow and 
stupid. They were eager to learn about anything, especially 
the world. 

The voyage of Leif Ericsson. The "world" meant to 
them Europe, northern Africa, and the East. No one 
dreamed of the great double continent of America. Nearly 
five centuries earlier America had been visited by a white 
man from Europe, Leif Er'ics-son, a Northman. Another 



148 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 




Northman told him of being driven from his course and 
seeing land south of Greenland. He had not been suffi- 
ciently interested to go ashore, but Leif bought his ship 
and sailed away to the southward. He came to a coast 
where lofty mountains rose covered with snow. This is no 
place to land, thought Leif, and so he sailed by Newfound- 
land. Next came flat, 
wooded shores which 
did not seem to him 
especially attractive ; 
and so he sailed by 
Nova Scotia. He was 
not very easy to please, 
but at last he came to 
a coast that did suit 
him. The shores were 
of shining white sand, 
there were forests and 
there were meadows 
of rich green grass. Here he landed, and began to ex- 
plore the country. He found grapes and was so delighted 
that he named the country Vinland, or land of vines. In 
the spring he sailed back to Greenland with a boatload of 
wood and dried grapes. 

The Northmen come to Massachusetts. Of course there 
was much talk in Greenland about the new country, and 
at length a wealthy merchant and his wife induced some 
people to go to Vinland with them and found a colony. It 
is thought that they went to what is now Buzzard's Bay, 
and there their little son Snor're was born, the first white 
child born in Massachusetts. When he was three years 
old, the colony was given up, and the colonists returned 
to Greenland. It was a hard rough voyage for a baby, 
but the little American boy lived to become the ancestor 



A NORWEGIAN SHIP 



THE BEGINNINGS OF DISCOVERY 



149 




RUINS OF A CHURCH IN GREENLAND 

(It is supposed to have been one of the churches 
built by Leif and his followers) 



of a long line of wise and excellent men. The celebrated 
sculptor Thorwaldsen was one of his descendants. This is 
the account given by the Icelandic sagas, or hero stories. 
It is possible that the Northmen would have founded per- 
manent settlements in our country, but a terrible plague 
swept over the North and 
destroyed so many people 
that America seems to have 
been entirely forgotten. 

Marco Polo's boyhood. 
There was an explorer of 
the East, however, whose 
work was not forgotten. 
This was an Italian, Marco 
Polo, who spent his boy- 
hood in beautiful Venice 
with its magnificent palaces and churches. He could hardly 
remember his father and uncle, for they had gone long 
before to Constantinople, had bought quantities of jew- 
elry there, and had then disappeared. It was thought 
that they had gone into Asia to trade. This proved to be 
true, for at length they came home for a visit. They had 
crossed Asia and gone to China, to the court of its ruler, 
the great Kublai Khan. When the two merchants started 
on the return journey, Marco Polo was a happy boy, for he 
started with them. 

Marco Polo in China. After a long slow journey they 
reached China. The khan took a strong liking to Marco 
and gave him a position in the royal household. The young 
man learned the four languages most used in China, put 
on Chinese dress, and adopted Chinese manners. The khan 
discovered that he knew how to keep his eyes open and that 
he could describe what he had seen, and soon the ruler 
began to send him on journeys of exploration, giving him a 



150 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



golden tablet whereon was engraved the khan's cipher and 
a command that wherever he should go, all Chinese subjects 
should treat him with honor and provide him with whatever 
he might need. Then on his return he described to the khan 
the interesting things that he had seen. 




THE FLEET OF KUBLAI KHAN 

The return of the Polos. The Polos returned to Venice 
after an absence of nearly a quarter of a century. There 
had been rumors that they were dead and the Venetians 
doubted whether the foreign-looking men who spoke Italian 
so stiffly were really the Polos, and it was difficult for them 
to get possession of their own house. Some time afterwards, 
they invited the doubters to a banquet, had the coarse, 
threadbare coats in which they had traveled brought in, 
ripped them open, and there rolled out such a store of 
rubies and emeralds and sapphires as the bewildered guests 
had never seen. They no longer doubted. 

Marco Polo's book. Some time after the Polos reached 
home, war broke out between Venice and Genoa, and 



THE BEGINNINGS OF DISCOVERY 151 

Marco Polo was put in command of a warship. The Genoese 
captured him and put him into prison. While there, he dic- 
tated to a gentleman of Genoa the story of his travels. It 
was well worth reading, for its author had seen kingdom 
after kingdom in Asia ; he knew all about the brilliant court 
of Kublai (kob'li) Khan; he could reveal the enormous 
wealth of China; he could describe India, Java, Sumatra 
(so-ma'tra), Ceylon (se-lon'), and many other places that 
had long been countries of mystery to the western world. 
He had visited Abyssinia (ab-i-sin'i-a) and he could tell 
tales of Madagascar and also of the white bears and reindeer 
of Siberia. All Genoa became interested, and their prisoner 
was soon set free. Some even among his friends thought he 
must have exaggerated his accounts, and when he was on 
his deathbed they begged him for the good of his soul to 
take back some of his statements. "There is no exaggera- 
tion in the book," he declared. "On the contrary, I have 
not told half the amazing things that I saw with my own 
eyes." 

Prince Henry the Navigator. Travel by water was easier 
than travel by land, and it was evident that if the mariners 
of any country should discover a water route to India, that 
country would soon become rich from the Indian trade; 
but how was it to be done? An enthusiastic young man, 
Prince Henry of Portugal, afterwards called the Navigator, 
took up the puzzling question. He was only twenty-four, 
but he was already so distinguished a soldier that four 
sovereigns had offered him the command of their respective 
armies. But Prince Henry had other ambitions. He was 
interested in astronomy, geography, and navigation, and 
especially in the way to India. He built an observatory on 
a point of rock at the southern extremity of Portugal, and 
here he and a group of his friends who were interested in 
the same pursuits lived and studied. 



152 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



Nothing was known about Africa beyond the northern 
part, and Prince Henry had no idea of its great size. He 
hoped that India could be reached by rounding the mass of 
land, and that the voyage would be of only moderate length. 
Then Portugal could found an empire in India, Indian 
trade would pour gold into Portuguese coffers, and the 
natives of India could be brought to the religion of Christ. 




THE WORLD AS KNOWN BEFORE THE VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS 

Prince Henry's ships pass the river Gambia. Hopefully 
Prince Henry sent out one ship after another. His captains 
visited the Madeiras (ma-dee'ras) and Canaries and even 
the A'zores, one thousand miles out at sea. His vessels felt 
their way cautiously down the African coast, each bold 
mariner venturing a little farther south than those who had 
preceded him, until before Prince Henry's death in 1460, 
they had passed the Gambia River. Africa evidently ex- 
tended much farther south than had been thought, and it 
had not been rounded; but Prince Henry had proved that 
the Atlantic Ocean was not the Sea of Darkness, as many 
people supposed, that the water was not boiling hot, that 
no demons lived in it, and that Satan did not stretch up a 



THE BEGINNINGS OF DISCOVERY 



153 



black hand as big as a cliff and draw ships down under 
the waves. He had aroused interest and enthusiasm that 
did not fade away at his death. America would have been 
discovered even if Prince Henry had never sent out a vessel, 
but the discovery would at least have been many years 
later than it was. 

Dias rounds the Cape of Good Hope. A quarter of a 
century after Prince Henry's death, Bar-thol'o-mew Dias 
(dee'as), a daring Portuguese captain, was sent by the king of 
Portugal in search 
of the mysterious 
end of Africa. Dias 
sailed down the 
African coast to 
the Tropic of Cap'- 
ri-corn, then he 
went on four hun- 
dred miles farther, 
and then came 
heavy north winds 
which blew for thir- 
teen days. When the storm quieted, he steered eastward 
for the shore; but there was no shore. He did not know 
just what had happened, but he pluckily sailed straight 
north, and at length he came in sight of land, but it lay 
to the west of him! He had solved the problem; he had 
rounded Africa without knowing it! 

Dias is forced to turn back. The way to India lay before 
Dias, but the sailors insisted upon going home. This can 
hardly be wondered at, for the Portuguese ships or caravels 
were slow and clumsy, not more than two or three times 
as long as they were wide, and if the same north winds should 
blow again, they would have found it almost impossible to 
make much headway against them. Food was hardly more 




DANGERS OF THE SEA OF DARKNESS 
(From a sixteenth century illustration) 



154 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

than dry bread and salt meat. There was neither fruit nor 
vegetables, and on a lengthy voyage there was always 
danger of scurvy. Then too there was another danger 
which no one knew how to meet. Ships were not sheathed 
in metal as now, and on long voyages they were liable to 
be bored through and through below the water-line by 
marine worms, to become waterlogged, and sink to the 
bottom. It is no wonder that the sailors wanted to go home. 
Dias had to yield and turn back. In rounding the point of 
Africa this time, he had a good view of it, and he named it 
the Stormy Cape. When he told the Portuguese king about 
this Stormy Cape, his majesty said, "No, let it rather be 
called the Cape of Good Hope, for now we may well believe 
that we have found the ocean route to India." 

STUDY SUGGESTIONS 

1. Of the "luxuries" brought from the East, which should we regard as 
necessities? Why has the way of looking at them changed? 

2. Do you recall the names of any books that have "aroused and excited " 
people? Why should they? 

3. What sort of man was Leif Ericsson? 

4. What qualities help to make a good explorer? 

3. What Marco Polo told another boy about the journey that he was 
going to make. 

6. Find from what is said of Marco Polo what sort of boy he was. 

7. Tell the story of the Polos' banquet as if you had been present. 

8. Read a chapter of Marco Polo's book of travels, and tell the story to 
your class. 

9. Why could not people go to India by land as well as by water? 

10. Why would the discovery of a water route give wealth to the country 
discovering it? 

11. Can you think of any reasons why Prince Henry's first captains did 
not round Africa? 

12. Can you tell anything about Peary, who discovered the North Pole, 
and Amundsen, who discovered the South Pole? 

13. Can you think of any reason why sailors and explorers do not have 
scurvy now? 

14. What difference would it have made to Dias's life if he had grown up 
in idleness and luxury? 






THE BEGINNINGS OF DISCOVERY 155 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

A Greek scholar describes his flight from Constantinople. 

Leif Ericsson describes his voyage. 

Marco Polo tells the story of his life. 

Prince Henry refuses to command an army. 

The sailors of Dias object to continuing their voyage. 



CHAPTER XIII 

COLUMBUS 

Columbus as a boy. While the captains of Prince Henry 
the Navigator were trying their best to round Africa, a boy 
named Christopher Columbus was 
growing up in Genoa. It was just 
the city for a wide-awake boy to grow 
up in, for vessels were coming and 
going continually and bringing all 
sorts of interesting articles from the 
far East. Genoa was especially for- 
tunate in her commerce, for she had 
had a treaty with Constantinople for 
two hundred years and was free to 
use the Strait of Bos'pho-rus. When 
the Turks took Constantinople, how- 
ever, in 1453, this trade was suddenly 
shut off and the ships ceased to come. 
Columbus becomes a sailor. By 
this time Columbus was a sturdy 
young man of about seventeen. If the 
people about him had only known 
how famous he was to become, they 
would surely have taken many notes 
of his boyhood days; but no one 
dreamed how glad the folk of our 
century would be to learn something of the great man as 
a boy, and so we know hardly anything about him till he 
was grown up. Columbus himself said that he began to 




COLUMBUS ON THE QUAY 
AT GENOA 



COLUMBUS 



157 



go to sea when he was fourteen, and that he went " wher- 
ever ship has sailed." He said nothing about going to 
school, but he certainly learned somewhere considerable 
Latin, also geography, astronomy, and mathematics, and 
he acquired the ability to draw maps and charts. Between 
voyages, he drew maps and sold them. He became quite 
a famous maker of maps and charts, and he very wisely 
determined to go to Lisbon, in Portugal, where there was 
a great call for such work, and where his younger brother 



13a i»s 




THE MAP COLUMBUS USED 



had already gone. Prince Henry was dead, but numerous 
voyages were made down the African coast, and Colum- 
bus went on more than one of them. 

Columbus ponders over a voyage to Asia. After a while 
he married the daughter of one of Prince Henry's captains. 
This captain had been governor of one of the Madeira Is- 
lands for a while, and here Columbus spent some time. 
Ships from Guinea sometimes made a stop at the island, 
and he must have had many a talk with their captains. He 
studied the charts and logs that his father-in-law had left; 
he pondered and dreajned over that puzzling question of a 
voyage to Asia. Prince Henry had thought it possible to 
round Africa, but on the other hand Ptolemy had believed 



158 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

that Africa extended perhaps all the way to the south pole. 
In that case, the only way to reach India by water would 
be to sail west — provided this could be done. At length 
Columbus wrote to a famous astronomer in Italy. The 
astronomer sent him a map drawn as he thought the world 
ought to be. According to this, if one set out from the Ma- 
deiras and went directly west, he would touch the northern 
point of Japan and go straight to China. 

The Atlantic Ocean supposed to reach to China. This 
astronomer and the other learned men of the time supposed 
that the waters which washed the shores of Portugal and of 
China were those of one ocean, and that with favorable 
winds it could probably be crossed in a few days — if it 
could be crossed at all. Not one man in all the world 
dreamed that if a ship sailed west from Portugal to China, 
it would have to make its way across the American conti- 
nent. Columbus knew no more than other folk about the 
size of the ocean, but he believed so firmly in a western 
route to China that he was willing to risk his life on the un- 
known voyage. Here, then, was a man with an idea; and 
there were cities and kingdoms with money enough to carry 
it into effect, provided he could persuade them to believe 
in his plans. 

The appeal to Portugal. It is said that he asked both 
Genoa and Venice for funds, and that to both his scheme 
seemed wild and hopeless. Portugal had long been inter- 
ested in the search for an easy route to India, and he went 
hopefully to the Portuguese king, who was Prince Henry's 
nephew. This king, John II, called upon some of his ad- 
visers for their opinion of this plan, and they told him it was 
only a visionary scheme, not in the least practicable. The 
king was not satisfied, and he now called a special council 
of the most learned men in his kingdom, and asked their 
opinion. Some thought that Columbus's reasoning was cor- 



COLUMBUS 



159 



rect, but others thought it was absurd. Perhaps they might 
have been easier to convince if Columbus had not had what 
seemed to them rather extravagant notions of what his own 
share in the glories and rewards of such an expedition should 
be. The council did not favor the plan, but King John had 
a little of his uncle's spirit of adventure and enterprise, and 
he was not fully con- 
vinced that the Ital- 
ian was in the wrong. 
The trick of John 
II. John II was 
called the"Perfect," 
but in this case he 
did not live up to 
his title, forheplayed 
an exceedingly shab- 
by trick upon Co- 
lumbus. He told the 
earnest mariner that 
although the coun- 
cilors did not ap- 
prove the plan, yet 
he did not feel en- 
tirely satisfied with 
their judgment, and 
wanted to borrow Columbus's maps and charts and study 
them for himself. Columbus willingly lent them to the king, 
and went home thinking that he had found a friend. One 
day a Portuguese caravel came sailing in from the west, and 
before long the story of the king's treachery was revealed. 
If Columbus was right, he wanted his own country and 
not this Italian sailor to have the glory of the discovery, 
and he wanted to save the money. Therefore "John the 
Perfect" had sent out secretly a caravel of his own to try 




COLUMBUS 



160 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

the experiment of a western voyage. Fortunately for Co- 
lumbus, the sailors were afraid, and they hurried home to 
report that "One might as well expect to find land in the 
sky as in that waste of waters." 

Columbus goes to Spain. The king's dishonesty was re- 
ported to Columbus, and soon a very indignant mariner 
had taken his little son Diego and set out for Spain. He also 
sent his brother to England, but the brother was taken by 
pirates and his appeal to Henry VII of England was de- 
layed. Meanwhile, Columbus tried his best to get a hearing 
at the Spanish court of Ferdinand and Isabella, and at 
length they called a council of learned men. Some believed 
that Columbus was right; others asked, "How can there be 
people on the other side of the earth? Do they hang on by 
their feet? Do the trees grow down, and does the rain fall 
up? Even if you should succeed in going to the other side 
of the world, how could you ever sail up hill and return?" 

The Cid. It was a poor time to talk about finding new 
lands, for Spain had all she could do to care for her own. 
Centuries before this, the Moors of Africa had come into the 
country and won possession of the southern part, and there 
was almost constant warfare between the two races. One 
of the greatest leaders of the Spaniards in this warfare was 
Rodrigo Diaz (ro-dre'go dee'ath), called the Cid, or chief, 
because of his bravery. Just as in England legends gathered 
about the name of King Arthur, so in Spain tales gathered 
about the name of Rodrigo. One story was that he helped 
a leper out of the bog in which he was fast sinking, carried 
him to an inn on his own horse, ate from the same trencher, 
and slept in the same bed. In the morning the leper was 
gone, but a glorious vision of St. Laz'a-rus appeared to the 
Cid, and he was promised that his foes should never prevail 
against him. 

Columbus at La Rabida. The marriage of Ferdinand and 



COLUMBUS 



161 



Isabella had united two strong kingdoms, Castile and Ar'a- 
gon, and although for years Columbus did his best to inter- 
est them in his plans, they had little thought for anything 
but the war. All they would say was that they would con- 
sider the matter later. 1491 came. Columbus gave up Spain 
as he had given up Portugal, and with Diego, now eleven or 




From a painting by Sir David Wilkie 
COLUMBUS AT LA RABIDA 



twelve years old, he set off for France. Near Palos his way 
led by the convent of La Rabida (la ra'be-da). The boy was 
hungry, and according to the custom his father stopped at 
the convent for food. The prior of this convent was a 
learned man who was especially interested in geography. 
He noticed the stranger with blue-gray eyes, a mass of white 
hair and an air of courtesy and distinction and began to 
talk with him. When he found what a wonderful plan this 
stranger had in mind, he invited him to remain at the con- 
vent while he himself wrote to Queen Isabella. He had once 



1 62 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

been her confessor, and he knew that his words would have 
weight. He told her what glory such a discovery would 
bring to Spain, how much wealth would pour in from the 
trade with the Indies, and, above all, how many heathen 
souls might be saved by hearing the Gospel. 

Columbus's terms are refused. The queen became inter- 
ested, but a difficulty arose. Columbus demanded the title 
of admiral, the right to rule over any lands that he might 
discover, and one eighth of all the profit that might be made. 
He was not greedy, but he felt that he had a right to share 
in whatever gain might come from his years of study and 
thought. Moreover, he had in mind another achievement 
which he hoped to accomplish, namely, to rescue from the 
Turks the tomb in which Christ was said to have lain. For 
this he needed a large amount of money, and he declared 
that he would rather seek for the aid of France than yield 
a single point. These terms were not so very unlike those 
which Portugal gave to her explorers; but in this case, no 
one knew what islands rich in gold and pearls and precious 
stones might be discovered. Heathen countries in Asia with 
untold wealth might be found, and this unknown Italian 
adventurer might become far richer and more powerful than 
Ferdinand and Isabella themselves. It is no wonder that 
they hesitated, and at length refused. 

Queen Isabella promises help. Columbus mounted his 
mule and started for France. Two priests, treasurers of 
Castile and Aragon respectively, rushed to the queen and 
besought her not to lose such an opportunity. Isabella 
yielded. " I will undertake the enterprise for my own crown 
of Castile," she declared, "and I will pledge my jewels to 
raise the necessary funds." 

Columbus was jogging on his mule about six miles from 
the town when he heard the rapid gallop of a fleet horse 
behind him. It was Queen Isabella's courier, come to ask 



COLUMBUS 



163 
The man with 



him to return. An agreement was made 
the idea had won at last. 

The sailing of Columbus. Then there was a bustle of 
preparation. For some misdemeanor the town of Palos had 
been required to provide two ships, well manned and armed, 
to serve the king for one year. The order was given that 




PARTING OF COLUMBUS WITH FERDINAND AND ISABELLA 
(From a work by De Bry, an historian of the sixteenth century) 



these two ships should be at the disposal of Columbus. The 
sailors of the town were terrified at the thought of such a 
voyage. Educated men had become wiser, but many of the 
sailors were ignorant, and they still believed in the terrors 
of the Atlantic Ocean. Some hid themselves, and others 
ran away. At last two brothers, wealthy shipowners, of- 
fered to go on the fearful voyage, and also to furnish one 
vessel, and that gave the sailors a little more courage. After 
this some volunteered, others were forced to go, and one 



164 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

morning in August the three small vessels, the Pinta, the 
Nina (nen'ya), and the Santa Maria (ma-re 'a), set out from 
Palos to cross the unknown ocean. The rudder of the Pinta 
broke, and a visit had to be made to the Canary Islands to 
repair it. Then word came that three Portuguese vessels 
had been seen off the coast waiting to capture Columbus. 
That matter was easily arranged, for he slipped past them 
directly out into the open ocean, knowing well that no 
Portuguese ships would dare to follow into the Sea of 
Darkness. 

Terrors of the voyage. The farther they went, the more 
frightened became the Spanish sailors. They wept and la- 
mented, saying that never again should they see their 
homes and their friends. Everything alarmed them. The 
mast of a vessel floated by, and this they took as a sure sign 
that they would be wrecked. They saw a meteor, and they 
were certain that it was a bad omen. The wind blew steadily 
from the east, and the discouraged mariners wondered how 
they could ever make their way home. They found them- 
selves in the midst of the great masses of seaweed that we 
call the Sar-gas'so Sea, and then the sailors worried about 
quicksands and the dangers of running aground. The needle 
of the compass no longer pointed directly to the north star. 
That was worst of all, for they thought they had lost their 
way. They were so angry with the admiral that they even 
planned to throw him overboard. 

The patience of the leader. Columbus was very patient 
with them. He sounded many times to convince them that 
there was plenty of water below the weeds of the Sargasso 
Sea. He made up the best explanation that he could of the 
needle's failure to point to the north star, and he told them 
of the wonderful countries that they would soon see, the 
home of spices and perfumes, of gold and jewels. He told 
them how much land they would own and what great 



COLUMBUS 



165 



lords they would become, and so day after day he led 
them on. 

Signs of land. Flocks of birds began to fly past, nearly 
all going to the southwest, and the course of the ship was 
changed to follow their flight, in the hope that they were 
going to the land. Fresh-water weeds were seen and a 
branch of thorn with berries on it. At last a piece of wood 




Nina Santa Maria Pinta 

THE THREE CARAVELS OF COLUMBUS 



was picked up that had been carved by some one. Then 
the sailors were almost as eager as their leader to find the 
unknown country, and one after another began to declare 
that he could see land, and to claim the reward promised by 
Ferdinand and Isabella to him who should first discover the 
farther shore. Columbus increased the reward by the offer 
of a velvet doublet, but there were so many of these false 
alarms that he declared no man who shouted " Land ahead! " 
should receive the reward unless land was discovered within 
three days after the time when it had been announced. 
Columbus sees land. It seems only fitting that the great 



1 66 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



discovery should have been made by the admiral himself; 
and so it was, for one evening as he stood gazing into the 
west, he was sure that he saw a light that moved up and 
down as if some one was carrying a torch in his hand. Early 
the following morning, October 12, 1492, the land was in 
full view. The sailors were half beside themselves with joy. 
Columbus had proved to be in the right, they would all be 
rich men, perhaps rulers of strange countries. The repent- 




Painting by Gabrini in the Field Museum, Chicago 
THE LANDING OF COLUMBUS 



ant mariners threw themselves at his feet. They could not 
be grateful enough to the man who had led them to wealth 
and honors. 

The landing of Columbus. Columbus put on his rich 
scarlet robes, took the royal banner in his hand, and was 
rowed ashore. What a shore it was! The water was clear as 
crystal, the sand was dazzlingly white, there were strange 
trees and fruits, unknown flowers, birds of brilliant plumage, 



COLUMBUS 167 

and, strangest of all, great numbers of copper-colored na- 
tives, who at first hid behind trees, but soon gathered around 
the Spaniards, gazing with reverent curiosity upon their 
white skins, their steel armor, their glittering weapons, and 
especially upon the admiral himself in his scarlet dress. 

The Spaniards talk with the Indians. The Spaniards 
knelt down and kissed the ground. They rose and chanted 
the Te Deum. Then Columbus unfurled his banner and 
formally claimed the country for Spain, for no one dreamed 
of paying attention to any claims that the natives might 
have in the land. He named the island San Sal'va-dor, or 
Holy Saviour. It was one of the Bahamas, no one knows 
which one, but many think that it was the one now known 
as Watling's Island. The natives he called Indians, because 
he supposed that he was on the coast of India. These na- 
tives had a tradition that some day white men would come 
down from the skies to visit them. They thought the Span- 
iards were these expected heavenly visitors, and were de- 
lighted that the great event had come to pass in their day. 
The Spaniards managed to talk with them by signs, and 
soon they -were exchanging beads and bells and scarlet cloth 
for tame parrots and little ornaments of gold. "Where did 
the gold come from?" Columbus asked by signs, and the 
natives pointed to the south. "Where is Ci-pan'go?" 
(Japan) he asked in the same way, and again they pointed 
to the south, for they thought that he meant some moun- 
tains with nearly the same name. "And what is over 
there?" he questioned, pointing to the west. In some way, 
they contrived to answer that there was "great water." 

Columbus believes that he is near Japan. All this was 
in perfect agreement with the ideas of Columbus. He 
thought he was on some little island north of Japan, and 
that the "great water" was the Inaian Ocean. Marco Polo 
had said that the water east of Cathay (ka-tha') or China 



168 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

was full of little islands inhabited by naked savages. The 
Spaniards had not come upon any spices, but since he was 
so near Asia, they would of course be easily found. He had 
brought a letter from Ferdinand and Isabella to the khan 
of China, successor to Marco Polo's friend Kublai Khan; 
he would steer south to Japan, then west to China, and then 
it would be an easy matter to sail northwest along the Chi- 
nese coast and carry the letter to the city of the khan. 

The return to Spain. Columbus soon came to Cuba. 
There he picked up some pearl oysters, but still there was 
no sign of the great cities of the East. He saw some little 
villages, he saw fields of potatoes, tobacco, and Indian corn 
and cotton, but nothing that looked like the wealth of the 
East. Could it be that he was mistaken, and that Cuba was 
not Japan after all? And if it was not Japan, where was he? 
Suddenly he missed the Pinta, the swiftest of the three ves- 
sels. Its commander had none of the doubts of Columbus, 
and he had slipped away to Spain, to get for himself the 
credit of the discoveries. A month later, the Santa Maria 
ran on a bank and was beaten to pieces by the waves. Only 
the little Nina remained. It would not hold them all; but 
many of the men were pleased with the lazy life in the warm 
climate of Hayti, and they begged to be left there to found 
a colony. Ten of the natives accepted with joy the admiral's 
invitation to go to Spain with him, and the Nina set out. 

The arrival at Palos. The little boat had to meet severe 
storms, but she weathered the gales and sailed into the 
harbor of Palos, March 15, 1493. Such a reception as she 
had! The whole town turned out to welcome their friends 
and do honor to the man who had discovered the way to 
India. The captain of the Pinta had been driven into a 
French port by the storm. He sent to the Spanish sover- 
eigns a glowing account of his discovery of the Indies, and 
hastened to Palos as soon as possible. He arrived when the 



COLUMBUS 



169 



streets were ablaze with torches in honor of Columbus. He 
caught sight of the Nina in the harbor, and he did not need 
the stern refusal of the sovereigns to receive him in order 
to learn that his treachery had been discovered. 




THE FOUR VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS 

Columbus in gorgeous robes was escorted by soldiers 
with music and banners to the royal palace. He knelt before 
his sovereigns, but Isabella begged him to rise and seat him- 
self — a rare honor in the Spanish court — and tell them 
all about his voyage and his discoveries. What a wonderful 
tale it must have been! 

The story of the egg. There is a story that at a dinner in 
honor of Columbus not long after this reception a jealous 
courtier asked him : — 

"If you had not sailed to the Indies, don't you suppose 
there are other men in Spain who would have made the 
voyage?" 

Instead of answering, Columbus held up an egg and asked 
if any one present could make it stand on end. No one suc- 
ceeded, until he took the egg, broke the end slightly, and 
in that way was able to make it stand. 

"Any one could do that," muttered the envious courtier. 

"Yes," said the admiral quietly, "after I have shown the 
way." 

The second voyage. That was the work of Columbus, to 



170 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

" show the way " ; but no one guessed to what he had shown 
it. Everybody thought as he did, that he had reached the 
shores of Asia, and when he went on a second voyage that 
same year, people begged for places on his ships. All Spain 
wanted to go to the East and make a fortune. The little 
fleet carried horses, mules, cattle, goats, and sheep, pigs 
and fowls and seeds of fruit and grain, for the colony was 
to be strengthened and made permanent. They sailed joy- 
fully onward, but when they came to Hayti, which they 
had named His-pan-i-o'la, they found only ruins and dead 
bodies. The sailors left on the island had outraged the 
natives and had been slain by them. The Spaniards built 
new fortifications and began again to found a colony, which 
they named Isabella. 

Columbus in chains. Columbus made more explorations, 
but nowhere could he find the stately cities of the East. 
Everything went wrong. The colonists were ill, Columbus 
himself was ill for five months. Bad treatment had made 
the Indians hostile, and the admiral returned sadly to 
Spain. Two other voyages he made, four in all. He visited 
more of the West Indies and sailed along the coast of 
Central America, Panama, and the northern coast of South 
America. He tried to govern a colony of the turbulent 
Spaniards, but he failed, and his enemies reported such 
malicious stories of him that a new governor was appointed 
for the colony. He put the great admiral in chains and sent 
him back to Spain. The captain of the vessel would gladly 
have removed the fetters, but Columbus said: "No, the 
rulers of Spain have put chains upon me, and they alone 
shall take them off. So long as I live I will keep these chains, 
and they shall be buried with me." 

The disappointment of the Spaniards. Ferdinand and 
Isabella were indignant at such treatment of so great a man, 
and there was no delay in striking off the fetters. Yet 



COLUMBUS 171 

sovereigns and kingdom were alike disappointed. Columbus 
had crossed the ocean, but he had found no gold; and al- 
though he was so sure that the islands were off the coast of 
India that he called them the Indies, no great oriental cities 
had been found, and there seemed no reason to expect any 
great wealth to come from the new lands. He never knew 
that he had discovered a mighty continent, and no one 
would have cared if it had been known. Spain wanted an 
easy route westward in order to trade with India. To know 
that a great continent blocked the way would have been 
only an annoyance to her. Columbus fell into loneliness 
and suffering. The queen died, and he was friendless. The 
children pointed their fingers at him in the street, the 
"admiral of the lands of deceit and disappointment," as 
they called him. He died neglected and forgotten. 

Columbus was a great man, not because he was the first 
to sail across an unknown sea, but because he knew the 
truth and believed it so firmly that he was ready to risk his 
life for its sake. 



172 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



STUDY SUGGESTIONS 

1. What could Columbus learn as a boy at the wharfs of Genoa? 

2. Is there any reason for believing that Columbus was a good scholar? 

3. Should you have believed in Columbus's plan? 

4. Can you find answers to the questions of the Spanish councilor? 

5. What have you read about the Moors before this? 

6. What the two priests said to Queen Isabella. 

7. Has Columbus's plan of rescuing Jerusalem from the Turks ever 
been carried out? 

8. What should you have said if you had been a sailor in Palos when the 
royal order arrived? 

9. What sort of man does Columbus show himself to have been in the 
management of his sailors? 

10. How and why was Columbus disappointed? 

11. Tell the story of the voyage as Columbus might have told it to his 
sovereigns. 

12. What do you suppose was the hardest moment in the life of Columbus? 
What was the happiest? 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

Describe Columbus and Diego at the gate of La Rabida. 
Give the conversation between Columbus and the prior. 
Give the conversation between a timid sailor and Columbus. 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE SUCCESSORS OF COLUMBUS 

England becomes interested in the New World. Spain 
meant to hold on firmly to her rights, and when her ambas- 
sador to England wrote to Ferdinand and Isabella in 1496 




ENGLISH SHIP, ABOUT 1500 

that "a person had come, like Columbus, to propose to the 
king of England an enterprise like that of the Indies," they 
promptly sent a warning to Henry VI I that both Spain and 
Portugal would object to any such thing. 

Luckily for John Cab'ot, the person who "had come, like 
Columbus," the royal permission was given before the 
warning arrived; but King Henry was trying to arrange a 



174 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

marriage between his little son and the small daughter of 
the Spanish sovereigns, and he had already shown that he 
did not wish to interfere with them, for he had permitted 
Cabot to sail only north, east, or west. 

The Cabots' first voyage. This new explorer was an 
Italian merchant then living in England. In 1497, just 
before Columbus went on his third voyage, John Cabot set 
sail, and probably his son Sebastian went with him. Ac- 
cording to the agreement with the king, Henry was to 
receive one fifth of all profits of the voyage. It is thought 
that the Cabots steered almost directly west and came to 
land at either Labrador, Newfoundland, or Cape Breton 
(brit'on). When he came home, he was received in England 
with as much rejoicing as Spain had made over Columbus. 
An Italian who was living in England wrote to his friends 
in Italy, "Honors are heaped upon Cabot, he is called 
Grand Admiral, he is dressed in silk, and the English run 
after him like madmen." 

The Cabots sail along our coast. John Cabot believed 
that if he could return to the point where he had found land 
and then sail south, he would surely find Japan. The king 
seems to have thought this probable and to have lost his 
regard for the feelings of Spain, for in the following year 
another voyage was made to the westward. This time the 
Cabots did sail south along the coast, perhaps as far as 
South Carolina; but they found no cities and opened no 
new opportunities for trade. No one knew that in years to 
come England's claim to possessions in America would rest 
upon the voyages of the Cabots, and really Henry's small 
gift of ten pounds "to hym that founde the new isle" was 
not after all out of proportion to the little good that the 
king got from the voyage. England was disappointed and 
sent out no more expeditions for nearly eighty years. 

The merchant Vespucius. The quest for India was not 



THE SUCCESSORS OF COLUMBUS 



175 



forgotten, however, and several voyages were made by the 
man from whose name came that of our country, the Italian 
Amer'i-cus Ves-pu'ci-us. Until he was forty years old, he 
lived in Florence as a merchant, and no one would have 
dreamed what this quiet business man would do in his later 
days. He was a collector as 
well as a merchant, not of 
vases or clocks or pictures, 
but of maps and charts and 
globes, and he sometimes 
paid large prices for any 
one of these that struck his 
fancy. He was fond of ge- 
ography, he was an excel- 
lent astronomer, and in his 
younger days he had be- 
come an expert in calculat- 
ing latitude and longitude. 
The business house with 
which he was connected sent 
him to Spain, and there are 
reasons for thinking that 
he helped fit out the vessels for Columbus's second voyage. 
In any case, he and Columbus met in friendly fashion. 

The voyages of Vespucius. Vespucius went on a westward 
voyage in 1497, and two years later he made a second trip, 
this time as a pilot. The vessel sailed along the northern 
coast of South America — only Vespucius and all the 
others on board still supposed it to be some mysterious part 
of India. Some of the Indians along the Gulf of Maracaibo 
(ma-ra-ki'bo) built their houses on piles over the water, 
and made little bridges from one to another. This was quite 
like a rough imitation of Venice, and the sailors called it 
Venezuela (ven-e-zwe'la), or little Venice, and it still retains 




AMERICUS VESPUCIUS 



176 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

the name. The following year Vespucius went on another 
voyage, and this time he sailed along the Brazilian coast 
and discovered the Amazon River. 






Columbus 

Cabot _i_i_,_ 
Vespucius »4.«.«4-4. 

Magellan 

Drake 



THE EARLIEST VOYAGES TO AMERICA AND AROUND THE WORLD 

The Portuguese discover Brazil. Meanwhile, Portugal 
had been having a piece of good fortune which made the 
Portuguese king eager to secure a pilot of experience in the 
western waters. A Portuguese fleet had started to go to 
India by rounding Africa, but for some reason had gone far- 
ther from the African shores than was intended and had 
come upon what is now Brazil. It is no wonder that the 
Portuguese king thought it worth while to make some 
further explorations in that part of the world. Vespucius 
entered his service and steered for the Brazilian shores, then 
sailed southeast along the coast of what is now South 
America, till he came to the island of South Georgia, twelve 
hundred miles east of Cape Horn. The intense cold and the 
floating ice kept him from going any farther, and he re- 
turned to Portugal and to the service of the Spanish king. 
This was nine years after Columbus's first voyage, and now 
for the first time, people began to realize that south of the 
equator there was a vast continent. 

The " Fourth Part " is called America. This was quite 



THE SUCCESSORS OF COLUMBUS 



177 



according to ancient ideas. One Mela, a famous Spaniard 
who had lived nearly fifteen centuries before Vespucius, 
believed that Africa did not extend even to the equator, 
and that south of Africa and Asia and the equator there was 
a great mass of land, a vast southern continent. Europe, 
Asia, and Africa were three parts of the earth, and Mela 
called this imaginary continent the "Fourth Part." The 
people who had be- 
lieved that there 
was such a conti- 
nent, now triumphed 
over those who had 
doubted it, for had 
not Vespucius seen 
it with his own 
eyes? Columbus 
had reached Asia 
— everybody knew 
that — and Vespu- 
cius had seen the 
"Fourth Part "south 
of Asia. It was all 
plain and simple. In a little book on geography which was 
written at that time it was suggested that this "Fourth 
Part" should be named America in honor of its discoverer; 
and first Brazil, then South America, and then North 
America came to be called by that name. So it was that 
our country takes its name from that of the man who did 
not discover it. Columbus is not forgotten, however, for 
in our songs the land is almost always called Columbia. 

The Pope's line. In this search for a water route to India, 
the Spanish and the Portuguese were running a race. If 
there was a specially good pilot or captain who had served 
one country well, the other country was eager to secure him. 




MELA'S IDEA OF THE WORLD, A.D. 50 



178 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

If one country scored a success, the other country was deter- 
mined to score a greater. The two kingdoms would perhaps 
have come to war if it had not been for what was called the 
Pope's line of demarcation. This was an imaginary line 
running north and south, passing through the southern 
point of Greenland and cutting off a large corner of Brazil. 
All heathen coasts that might be discovered east of that 
line were to belong to Portugal, and all wes 1 " of it to Spain. 
Years afterwards, one of the French kings laughed at this 
idea. "Show me Father Adam's will," he said, "that gives 
the earth to Spain and Portugal and shuts out France." But 
in those days it was regarded as a wise and reasonable divi- 
sion of the world. 

Portugal sends out Da Gama. Portugal did not give up 
the hope of making practical the route to the Indies by 
rounding Africa. Bartholomew Dias had gone around the 
Cape of Good Hope and into the Indian Ocean, and five 
years after the first voyage of Columbus the Portuguese 
king sent out a little fleet of four vessels under a Portuguese 
navigator, Vasco da Gama (da ga'ma), to complete the 
journey and push on to India if possible. 

When the day of departure had come, Da Gama, and the 
men of the fleet and the king and his courtiers all went down 
to the water's edge, for wonderful results were hoped for 
from this expedition. The ships were ablaze with flags and 
pennants; a farewell salute was fired, and the vessels floated 
down the river of Lisbon and out into the open sea. 

Da Gama doubles the Cape of Good Hope. It was a 
stormy voyage, and the voyagers were "harassed with tor- 
ments of wind and rain," as one of the early accounts says. 
There were hardly six hours of daylight in the twenty-four, 
and the sea was rough day and night. When at last they 
thought that they must have sailed as far south as the 
southern point of Africa, they steered directly east. Alas, 



THE SUCCESSORS OF COLUMBUS 179 

the shore soon came in sight. "There is no end to the land," 
declared the sailors, "it goes straight across the ocean." 
" Stand out to sea," commanded Da Gama. "Trust in the 
Lord, and we will double the Cape." On they went. The 
days grew shorter, the nights grew longer, and the cold rains 
fell constantly. Now the ships began to leak, and the men 
could never cease their pumping. There was so little hope 
of safety that they no longer called upon God to save their 
lives, but begged Him to have mercy upon their souls. In 
the midst of all the distress, Da Gama strode about the 
ship, angry and fearless. " If we do not double the Cape this 
time," he declared, "we will stand out to sea again; and we 
will stand out as many times until the Cape is doubled, or 
until whatever may please God has come to pass." 

By and by the sea grew calm, the wind moderated, and, 
however far they went to the east, no land was in sight. 
Then they knew that they had doubled the Cape. They 
were full of joy, and they praised the Lord, who had deliv- 
ered them from death. 

Da Gama reaches India. The Christmas season was at 
hand, which the Portuguese call Na-tal'. They gave this 
name to the part of the coast off which they lay, and it has 
been called so ever since that time. After the shattered 
vessels had been repaired, Da Gama sailed onward up the 
coast of Africa. He called at Mo-zam-bi'que and was 
pleased to find regularly built ports and handsome mosques, 
or Mohammedan temples. The people here carried on trade 
with Arabia and India in pearls, rubies, silver, linen, and 
spices. Surely this was coming nearer to the Indies! 

Da Gama sailed on till he came to Melinda, 3 south of 
the equator. Here, by the kindness of the king of the place, 
he took on a pilot who steered his ships across the Indian 
ocean to Cari-cut in Hin-dus-tan'. After many adventures, 
he returned to Portugal two years later, his ships loaded 



180 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

with silks and satins and precious stones, and the air about 
them sweet with the fragrance of spices. The king gave him 
a splendid reception, presented him with generous rewards, 
made him a noble, and bade that holidays should be cele- 
brated in his honor throughout the kingdom. He also be- 
stowed upon him the rather overpowering title of " Lord of 
the Conquest of Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia, and India." 

Da Gama made two other voyages to India. On one of 
them he led a fleet of twelve ships and brought them back 
richly laden with spices and silks and ivory and precious 
stones. Finally he was made viceroy of India; and there he 
lived in luxury and magnificence until his death. He had 
found the way to India. Portugal had won the prize and 
was growing rich through the Indian trade. What had 
Columbus and Spain to show in comparison with this? 

Balboa becomes a stowaway. In 1513 a young Spaniard 
named Bal-bo'a set out on a voyage of discovery — in a 
barrel. He wanted to escape from his creditors, and he 
wanted to find out whether this "New World" that people 
were talking about was only a group of islands, or whether 
it was connected with Asia. Therefore, in order to accom- 
plish both objects he had himself headed up in a barrel and 
rolled aboard a vessel about to sail for the northern coast 
of South America. When he was discovered, the captain 
was so angry that the stowaway came near being left on an 
island. It was finally decided to take him along, and in the 
end he proved to be the greatest discoverer of the whole 
company. 

Balboa discovers the Pacific Ocean. When they landed 
at Darien (da-re-en'), Balboa was especially kind to the 
Indians, and they told him of a great sea lying to the south- 
ward, and also of a country (Peru) where there was much 
gold. One September day he set out to get a view of this 
"great sea." Through tangled forests and up steep hills he 



THE SUCCESSORS OF COLUMBUS 181 

pushed on until at last from a mountain top he saw the 
Pacific Ocean. It stretched to the south, therefore he called 
it the South Sea. He knelt down under the trees and thanked 
God that he had been permitted to make this great discov- 
ery. Countries and oceans were to be had for the taking in 
those days, and Balboa made his way down to the shore, 
waded in waist-deep, and calmly took possession of the 
South Sea and all its 
coasts in the name of the 
king and queen of Spain. 

Magellan's services 
are refused by the King 
of Portugal. Whatever 
people thought about the 
new land, most of them 
believed that somewhere 
there was a passage 
through it which would 
give a short route to 
India. One man who 
was especially interested 
in the idea was a Por- 
tuguese named Magel- Magellan 
Ian (ma-jel'an). His king 

had treated him rather unjustly, but he offered his serv- 
ices just the same. They were not accepted. "Have I 
your majesty's permission to offer my services to some 
other monarch?" asked Magellan. "Do as you please," 
replied the king coldly, and would not allow Magellan to 
kiss his hand at parting. 

Magellan sails in the service of Spain. Magellan then 
went to Spain, and when Manuel of Portugal learned that 
the Spanish king had welcomed him and taken a deep inter- 
est in his plans, then the royal Manuel was a very repentant 




1 82 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

sovereign. He tried his best to get Magellan back, but it 
was too late; Magellan sailed in the service of Spain. He 
went to the eastern coast of South America, and when he 
came to the La Pla'ta River, he felt almost sure that this 
was the passage that every one was hoping to find. He ex- 
plored the stream for three hundred miles, but it grew nar- 
rower and the water grew fresher. There was nothing to do 
but to go back to the coast and try to find some other pas- 
sage. He sailed to the south, keeping near the shore. There 
were fearful storms that strained and weakened the ships, 
no one knew what dangers were before them, and they were 
short of food. " Let us go home," pleaded the sailors. "Our 
ships are weak, and we shall either be wrecked or else die 
of starvation." "Never," answered the commander, "I 
will go on if I have to eat the leather from the ship's yards." 

Discovery of the Strait of Magellan. "He is only a for- 
eigner," whispered the sailors, "and what better service 
could he render to the king of Portugal than to lead a com- 
pany of Spaniards to certain death?" They even seized 
some of the ships, but Magellan found a way to suppress 
the mutiny, and sailed on until he came to the strait that 
bears his name. Through the strait he went, and behold, 
a wide ocean stretched out before him! It seemed so calm 
and peaceful after all the storms that he named it the 
Pacific. It is said that when he saw the quiet water, he was 
" so glad thereof that for joy the tears fell from his eyes." 

The first voyage around the world. The sailors were in 
despair, for they were so far from Spain that there was not 
nearly enough food to last for a return voyage. The only 
course was to press on in the hope that aid would be found 
somewhere in the wide ocean. They suffered so severely 
from hunger that they actually did eat ' ' the pieces of leather 
which were folded about certain great ropes of the ship." 
At last they came to the La-dro'ne or Ma-ri-a'nne Islands 



THE SUCCESSORS OF COLUMBUS 



183 



and there they bought food. Then they sailed on to the 
Phirip-pines. Magellan was killed in a fight with the na- 
tives, but not before he had met ships coming from the 
west, and knew that his vessels could make the rest of the 
journey home through well-known waters. One of them 
did this, and thus in 1522 the first voyage around the world 
was completed. 




ROUTE OF MAGELLAN'S SHIPS 



Cartier searches for the Northwest Passage. Spanish 
voyagers had gone to South America and Mexico, and from 
those countries gold was pouring into Spain; but if a pas- 
sage through the "New World" — the Northwest Passage 
people called it — could be found, the nation that controlled 
it need not envy Spain her wealth, for trade with the Indies 
would be as valuable as a gold mine. France began to feel 
that it was time for her to have a share in these explorations 
and discoveries, and in 1534 a Frenchman named Jacques 
Cartier (kar'tya), went in search of the Passage. He seems 
to have thought that there was a better chance of finding 
it at the north or else he did not wish to have any difficulty 
with Spain, for he sailed directly to Newfoundland. He 
went into the Gulf of St. Lawrence and visited a beautiful 
bay; but it was so warm that he could think of no better 



1 84 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

name to give it than Baie des Chaleurs (ba da sha-lor), or 
the bay of heat. In the usual fashion of the early explorers, 
he claimed the land for his king, and set up a great wooden 
cross. Some Indians were watching him closely and their 
chief said as well as he could by signs, "This is not your 
country, but mine." It did not occur to Cartier that the 
Indians had any rights or that there was any need of tell- 
ing them the truth, so he said, "That is only a beacon to 
show sailors the way to your country." 

Cartier at Quebec and Montreal. The following year 
Cartier came again to the St. Lawrence, and now he hoped 
that he had found the Northwest Passage; but just as in 
the case of the La Plata, the stream grew narrower and the 
water fresher the farther he went. At last he had to admit 
that this was not the Passage, but he still hoped to use it as 
a route to go far inland ; therefore he went on to the mighty 
rock on which Quebec is built, and then to an island in the 
river where Montreal now stands. Here was a little Indian 
village. Back of it was a high hill, and the view from this 
hill was so beautiful that he named it Mont Re-al', or the 
royal mountain. To the river itself he gave the name St. 
Lawrence, because he had discovered it on St. Lawrence's 
Day. He had hoped to make a permanent settlement, and 
he spent the winter in Quebec, the coldest place on the 
river. The men suffered terribly from cold and sickness, 
and many died. Those who survived were glad to return 
to their own country when spring came. 



STUDY SUGGESTIONS 

1. Why was Cabot forbidden to sail south? 

2. Why was the result of Cabot's voyage a disappointment to the 
English? Of what were the explorers in search? 

3. Can you think of any reason why the Italians should have been suc- 
cessful navigators? 



THE SUCCESSORS OF COLUMBUS 185 

4. Can you find out what animals and trees the Portuguese sailors may 
have seen in Brazil? 

5. If the ancients like Mela believed that there was a "Fourth Part," 
why did they not go out in search of it? 

6. What songs can you think of in which our country is called America, 
and what ones in which it is called Columbia? 

7. Which would be better in these times, a long journey by water, or 
a short one by land? Which was better in early times? Why? 

8. What qualities in Da Gama enabled him to double the Cape of Good 
Hope? How does a boy or girl manifest such qualities in these days? 

9. Why was Da Gama pleased to find handsome buildings and well 
built ports in Mozambique? 

10. How had the people in Western Europe learned to like Eastern 
luxuries? 

11. Have you read the poem Balboa, by Nora Perry? 

12. The La Plata River is one hundred and forty-three miles wide at its 
mouth; how far can you see from any hill or tower that you know? 

13. Which is the better of the two names given to the ocean west of 
America? Which is the better, Chaleur Bay, or Bay of Heat? 

14. Can you think of any notions which Magellan's voyage around the 
world proved mistaken? 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

Vespucius and Columbus talk of crossing the Atlantic. 

One of Da Gama's sailors describes doubling the Cape of Good Hope. 

When Da Gama came home. 

A sailor describes the discovery of the stowaway Balboa. 

A.n Indian describes the coming of Cartier. 



CHAPTER XV 

THE BEGINNINGS OF CONQUEST 

Cortez sets out to conquer Mexico. Of the countries 
interested in the "New World," Spain was the first to 
realize that it was worth while to make explorations and 
conquests and found colonies. A young soldier named 
Hernando Cortes (kor-tas'), chanced to be in Cuba just 
when a Spanish explorer returned from a visit to Mexico, 
and the governor of Cuba commissioned him to conquer 
that country and take possession of it. He set out with ten 
ships, carrying men and horses and cannon. 

Cortes landed on the gulf coast of Mexico and with his 
six or seven hundred men marched along the shore, the 
vessels keeping as near as possible, so as to help in case of 
need. The natives made little opposition. They had a tradi- 
tion that the Sun God would some day come to them, and 
they supposed Cortes to be that god and willingly became 
his allies. The few who showed signs of fight were easily 
cowed by the roar of the cannon. Horses, too, were new to 
them, and they supposed the horse and its rider to be all one 
person, a new and most amazing creature. The ships were 
also wonders, for the Aztecs had never dreamed of such 
"water-houses." 

The wealth of Montezuma. Cortes was equally amazed 
by what the governor of the province where he had landed 
told him of their king Mon-te-zu'ma, of his splendor and 
his enormous wealth. Wealth was what Cortes wanted, 
and he declared that he must see Montezuma at once. He 
hinted broadly that he should like a quantity of gold dust, 



THE BEGINNINGS OF CONQUEST 



187 



in order to compare it with the gold of his own country, he 
declared. "We Spaniards have a troublesome disease of 
the heart," he said, "and gold is a certain remedy for it." 

The exchange of gifts. When Montezuma heard of the 
coming of the strangers, he too thought it possible that 
the Sun God was among them, and he sent a great collec- 
tion of magnificent gifts. There were collars and bracelets 
of pure gold, shields, 
helmets, fans, and san- 
dals, all richly orna- 
mented with gold. 
There were thirty loads 
of the finest cotton 
cloth exquisitely dyed, 
and there was feather- 
work like the most 
delicate of paintings. 
There were plates of 
gold and silver "as 
large as carriage- 
wheels," and most 
beautifully chased. 
The gold dust was not 
forgotten ; there was 

a helmet full of it. The Spaniards had sent Montezuma 
a carved armchair, a crimson cap ornamented with a gold 
medal, and a quantity of cut glass ornaments which they 
expected to pass for gems. They added to this rather nig- 
gardly gift some shirts, a goblet of gilt and enamel, and a 
few trinkets of small value. 

Cortes goes to the City of Mexico. Montezuma had a 
grain of caution. He bade the strangers carry his gifts to 
their king as a proof of his friendliness, but the journey to 
his capital was difficult and dangerous, he said, and there- 




SPANISH TREASURE SEEKER 
(Showing the soldier's cuirass and halberd) 




1 88 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

fore it would not be possible for him to enjoy a personal 
interview with them. " It shall go hard but we will one day 
pay him a visit in his capital," said Cortes to his officers, 
and set out for the City of Mexico. Montezuma concluded 
that it would be best to receive him with honors, and this 
was done. The Aztecs had their suspicions, however, and 
soon some of the men left at Ve'ra Cruz 
were attacked and slain. Then the Aztecs 
knew that the white people were not gods ; 
and the Spaniards were in great danger. 
Montezuma had given them quarters in a 
handsome palace, and they had strengthened 
and fortified it. Cortes demanded that the 
men who had attacked Vera Cruz should be 

SPANISH HELMET 

burned alive, and he also seized Montezuma 
himself and held him as a hostage, actually putting the 
proud sovereign in irons. Montezuma submitted and even 
commanded his people to acknowledge as their ruler the 
unknown king across the sea. 

Battle between Spaniards and Mexicans. Cortes was 
obliged to leave the city for a time, and when he returned 
he found that while the unarmed Aztecs were celebrating 
with sacrifices and religious songs and dances the festival 
of one of their gods, the 
Spaniards had rushed upon 
them with drawn swords 
and made the pavements 
of the city run with blood. " ""^^s* 

rjM A ^ . SPANISH PISTOL ^ 

1 he Aztecs now rose in a 

body and attacked the Spaniards with all the fury of their 
hatred and rage. "Go out upon the walls," Cortes bade 
Montezuma, "and order this to cease." He assured the 
captive king that the Spaniards would willingly go home 
if no difficulties were put in their way. Montezuma put 




THE BEGINNINGS OF CONQUEST 189 

on his golden sandals, his blue and white mantle, and his 
diadem, all gleaming with emeralds, and with a guard who 
bore before him the royal wand of gold, he ascended the 
highest tower of the palace. The tumult ceased in a mo- 
ment. His people gazed upon him with reverence, and 
many fell upon their knees. "Why are you here?" he de- 
manded. "These strangers are my guests. Return to your 
homes and lay down your arms." But the man who could 
give such a command they would no longer accept as their 
king. "You are a coward!" they cried; "go and spin and 
weave!" And in a moment a storm of stones and arrows 
had given fatal injury to the sovereign of the Aztecs. 

" The night of sorrow." After a week of terrible fight- 
ing, the Spanish tried to escape in the darkness. They were 
discovered, and that night of slaughter is still spoken of in 
Spain as "La Noche Triste," or the night of sorrow. So 
ended the first attempt to conquer Mexico. A few months 
later, however, Cortes returned with fresh forces, and after 
a long defense Mexico became a province of the Spanish 
king and received the name of New Spain. 

The Spanish king becomes jealous of Cortes. Cortes 
was now made governor of the country. He established a 
number of Spanish settlements, he explored the Pacific 
coast and the Gulf of Mexico, and he discovered Lower 
California. He became so powerful that the Spanish mon- 
arch began to be afraid of him. Much of his power was taken 
away, and he at length returned to Spain. There is a story 
that when the king neglected or refused to give him an 
audience, he daringly mounted the step of the royal car- 
riage. "Who are you?" demanded the monarch indig- 
nantly. " I am a man," replied the proud conqueror, "who 
has given you more provinces than your ancestors left you 
cities." 

Pizarro conquers Peru. A few years later, the Spaniard 



190 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



Francisco Pi-zar'ro set out from Panama to conquer Peru 
and win the vast quantities of gold and silver that the 
Indians had told Balboa were in that country. Pizarro 
captured the Inca or chief and held him prisoner. The Inca 
promised that if he might be free, he would fill for Pizarro 
a room with gold as high as he could reach. This was done, 
but Pizarro feared the Inca's power and had him murdered. 




A SPANISH CAMP 
Note the medieval tents 



The conquerors became very rich men, but the Indians 
whom they had robbed of this wealth they forced to work 
as slaves in their mines or on their plantations. 

Las Casas and the Indians. These Indians were cruelly 
treated and with the abuse and the severe and unaccustomed 
work were dying off rapidly. At length a Spanish monk in 
Cuba, Las Ca'sas, became warmly interested in them and 
appealed to the Spanish king to forbid their enslavement. 
Las Casas had seen the negroes at work and apparently 
well and strong, and it occurred to him that their work 
might take the place of Indian labor. The result was that 
many negroes were brought from Africa to toil for the 
Spanish planters. Las Casas realized that in trying to save 



THE BEGINNINGS OF CONQUEST 191 

one race he had injured another, and he tried to found a 
colony which he himself might control, but this failed. He 
then in grief withdrew to a monastery, but he did not forget 
the Indians, for he wrote a book containing accounts of the 
cruelty shown them by the planters. 

De Soto sets out to explore the wilderness. Thus far, 
gold had come from Mexico and the south, but people saw 
no reason why it should not be found in one place as well as 
in another, and the story gained ground that in the north 
there were magnificent cities and far greater wealth than 
had yet been discovered. Hernando de Soto, a Spaniard 
who had won a fortune in Peru with Pizarro, was now ready 
to risk it in the unknown wilderness. Here was a leader 
worth following. He was a brave and successful soldier, 
he had had much experience in exploration and warfare; 
and he was so sure of success that he counted as nothing the 
great wealth that he already possessed in comparison with 
that which he expected to find. People were half wild to 
go with him, and some of them sold their houses and vine- 
yards and olive trees to get money for their equipment. Of 
these De Soto' chose six hundred, and sailed away to Cuba 
with food, arms, bloodhounds, chains for captives, and a 
drove of hogs; and so the freebooters set out. 

The difficulties of the journey. The expedition sailed for 
Tampa Bay, on the west coast of Florida. There they left 
their ships and began to work their way through the wilder- 
ness. There were no roads other than the occasional trail 
of wild beasts ; but there were bogs and swamps and treach- 
erous river banks. There were snakes and mosquitoes to 
bite them, and the sharp-pointed leaves of what is now 
called the Spanish bayonet to pierce through their clothes 
and into their bodies. 

De Soto's treatment of the Indians. The journey would 
at best have been difficult enough ; but De Soto's treatment 



192 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

of the Indians made it far worse. He took a number of them 
prisoners, put iron collars about their necks, and chained 
them together in gangs. These poor captives he forced to 
carry the baggage and grind the corn for the whole company. 
If they made the least resistance, they were put to death or 
thrown to the dogs. But the Indians had their revenge. 
They would be killed in any case, they believed, and so in 
spite of the bloodhounds and the certainty of discovery, they 
took pleasure in leading the Spaniards into the most danger- 
ous morasses and the most tangled forests that they knew. 

De Soto in Mississippi. The first season's roving brought 
the company near the head of Ap-a-la/chee Bay. There 
they heard some good news. To the northeast, declared an 
inventive Indian, there was a country wonderfully rich in 
gold; and he could lead them to it. They had no salt, and 
meat was scarce, but the thought of gold spurred them on. 
They passed what is now the southern boundary of North 
Carolina; but no gold was to be found. They did not dare 
to kill the Indian who had led them there, for they had no 
other guide. Slowly they made their way to the southwest, 
to the lower part of the Alabama River. Then they turned 
and went to the northern part of Mississippi, battling with 
the natives wherever they went. 

The revenge of the Indians. For two seasons De Soto and 
his followers had wandered about in the wilderness, and 
they had found nothing of value. They spent the winter in 
some wretched huts in an Indian village, cold and hungry. 
The Indians set fire to these one night. Eleven Spaniards, 
many horses and hogs were burned, arms and clothes were 
destroyed, and the explorers had to cover themselves as 
best they could with skins and mats of ivy leaves. Even 
then De Soto would not yield, though long before this many 
of his companions had urged him either to make a settle- 
ment or return home. 



THE BEGINNINGS OF CONQUEST 193 

The discovery of the Mississippi River. One reward was 
awaiting the explorer, for he soon came to the rolling waters 
of the Mississippi River. He had found no gold, but he had 
discovered the largest river in the world. Boats were built 
to transport the horses, and De Soto crossed to the western 
shore. Still hoping for gold, he wandered through what is 




DE SOTO REACHING THE MISSISSIPPI 
(From Powell's picture in the Capitol at Washington) 

now Arkansas, and followed in Louisiana very nearly the 
direction of the Red River, but there he found nothing save 
little scattering Indian villages. He turned toward the 
great river, but he had lost men and horses, and the Indians 
had lost their fear of him. " I am the Child of the Sun," he 
said in an attempt to overawe an Indian chief near the 
present site of Natchez. " Dry up the river, then," retorted 
the chief, " and I will believe you. If you come to me in 



i 9 4 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

peace, I will show you honor; but if you come in war, I will 
not take one step back from you." 

The death and burial of De Soto. A fever came upon the 
commander and he died. Lest the Indians should learn of 
his death and be even more fully convinced that he was not 
the Child of the Sun, and that they had nothing to fear from 
the white men, the Spaniards wrapped his body in his man- 
tle, then rowing out into the great river at midnight, they 
sank it into the waters. His followers erected a forge, made 
nails of every scrap of iron in their possession, and built 
some thin, frail little vessels in which they sailed fearfully 
down the Mississippi and then along the coast to Mexico. 
Half the party had died, no treasure had been found, and 
wherever the explorers had been, they had left behind them 
bitter indignation and hatred. 

Coronado searches for the seven cities. At the same time 
as that of De Soto's journey, another Spanish explorer, 
named Francisco Coronado (ko-ro-na'tho), set out from the 
western shore of Mexico in search of some mysterious cities 
of wealth and splendor. There was a tradition that they 
were seven in number and that they were rilled with treas- 
ure. Explorers had already been in the region in which 
they were thought to be and had brought home glowing 
accounts of what they had seen — though at a great dis- 
tance. Coronado had some three hundred companions and 
a whole army of Indians and negroes to wait upon the three 
hundred and carry their baggage. After months of jour- 
neying, not so difficult as that of De Soto, but by no means 
easy, he came to the "cities," which we now know were the 
dwellings of the Zuni Indians, flat-roofed houses of adobe, 
entered from the top and often built up the side of a cliff. 
Sometimes they were four or five stories high and would 
provide homes for three thousand persons or more. It is no 
wonder that the earlier visitors, who only saw them from 
a distance, thought them great towns. 



THE BEGINNINGS OF CONQUEST 



195 



Coronado sets out for Quivira. Coronado was sadly dis- 
appointed, but one hope remained. Some of the Indians 
told him that if he would push on to the northeast, he 
would come to a really wonderful city which they called 
Quivira (ke-ve'ra). He was in what is now New Mexico, and 
he marched on across the Rio Grande (re'o gran'da) and 
came into Kansas. There was Quivira, to be sure, but it was 
only a cluster of wretched little villages. One thing inter- 





THE MISSION OF SANTA BARBARA 



ested him greatly, and in his report he said that the plains 
were full of "crooked-back oxen," that is, buffaloes. He 
went home a badly disappointed explorer. He had, however, 
visited a great extent of our southwestern country, he had 
sailed up the Gulf of California and the Colorado River. 
He said that the country through which he went was so cold 
and so far from the ocean that it was really not worth while 
to make any effort to keep it — and he had been over some 
of the richest land in the United States! 

The Spanish missions. Wherever the Spanish conquerors 
came, priests either went with them or followed closely in 
their footsteps. They did not seek for gold or for fame, they 
sought only to teach the Indians the Christian faith and the 



196 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

ways of civilization. As far as they could, they brought 
them together into villages called missions. Each Indian 
had his own little farm and was taught how to cultivate it ; 
but part of every day he worked on the mission farm to help 
support the Church and the school. The priests and monks 
taught them to give up their idols and the practice of can- 
nibalism and to obey the rules of the Church. Children were 
taught to read and write ; and if they showed any ability for 
such work, they, as well as their elders, were taught to be- 
come carpenters or blacksmiths or to follow some other use- 
ful handicraft. When Spanish settlers came to this country, 
they naturally made their homes near some mission, where 
there was a church and a school and where the customs of 
Spain were followed and Spanish was spoken. Often these 
immigrants and the Indians intermarried. It is thought 
that within eighty years after the first voyage of Columbus, 
there were some five million Indians in these villages. 



THE BEGINNINGS OF CONQUEST 197 

STUDY SUGGESTIONS 

1. Why had we any better right to take possession of Porto Rico than 
Cortes had to seize upon Mexico? 

2. What did Cortes mean by "a troublesome disease of the heart?" 

3. Describe the exchange of gifts between Cortes and Montezuma as 
if you had seen it. 

4. In what were Cortes and Montezuma alike, and in what were they 
different? Which was the nobler man? 

5. What scene in this chapter would make a fine picture? 

6. What were the worst qualities of the Spaniards? What were their 
good qualities? 

7. What do you suppose Montezuma said to himself when he went up 
to the highest tower of the palace? 

8. What should you carry if you were setting out on such a journey as 
De Soto's? 

9. Did De Soto deserve his misfortunes? 

10. Describe De Soto's journey as one of his followers might have done. 
Describe it as an Indian who had escaped from him might have told 
it to his son. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

A Mexican describes the coming of Cortes. 
What Las Casas wrote to the Spanish king. 
A visit to a Mission. 



CHAPTER XVI 

ENGLAND IN THE DAYS OF ELIZABETH 

Why we do not belong to Spain. More than a century 
passed after Columbus's voyages before any country except 
Spain and Portugal paid much attention to America. Spain 

had founded missions 
in large numbers; she 
had plantations, and 
she had mines from 
which enormous quan- 
tities of gold and sil- 
ver were carried to the 
mother country every 
year. More than this, 
her discoverers and ex- 
plorers had touched at 
so many places and 
been over so much of 
the country that ac- 
cording to the customs 
of the day she could 
lay claim to the greater 
part of South America and also to a large share of North 
America. Tn what is now the United States, she had founded 
two settlements that remain to this day, St. Augustine 
(a'gus-ten) in Florida, 1565; and Santa Fe (fa) in New 
Mexico, 1582. Certainly, Spain had a firm foothold in this 
country. How is it, then, that the English, French, and 
Dutch colonized so much of North America, and how is 




OLD SPANISH GATEWAY AT ST. AUGUSTINE 



ENGLAND IN THE DAYS OF ELIZABETH 199 

it that we are not subjects of the king of Spain and that 
we are speaking English instead of Spanish? 

Queen Elizabeth's love of magnificence. In 1558, Queen 
Elizabeth came to the English throne. Elizabeth was a 
remarkable woman, but she was full of vanities. She be- 
lieved herself so beautiful that no one could praise her as 
much as she thought she deserved. She had dresses by the 
hundred, and she was not at all pleased if some court lady 




QUEEN ELIZABETH CARRIED IN STATE 



chanced to appear in a gown a bit finer than her own. She 
liked to wear the handsomest velvet, the richest cloth of 
gold and cloth of silver. Her dresses were embroidered with 
pictures of scenes in mythology. Her headdresses and clasps 
and buttons were all a-glitter with diamonds and emeralds 
and rubies. Still, much as she enjoyed magnificence, she 
was a thrifty soul, and never dreamed of such reckless ex- 
travagance as that of Henry III. 
Elizabeth's scholarship. Elizabeth was an excellent scho- 



200 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

Iar. When she rode into London for her coronation, the 
boys from St. Paul's school made Latin addresses in her 
praise, and she was quite able to return little speeches in the 
same language. She thoroughly enjoyed being urged to 
show off her accomplishments, and when she went to visit 
one of the universities and was asked to speak in Latin, she 
pretended that she was not able to do it; but after a little 
more urging, she delivered a speech in excellent Latin, 
which she had evidently prepared for the occasion. 

Elizabeth's suitors. Elizabeth loved England with all her 
heart. She was always the friend of the common people. 
She was sincere in her wish for their love, and she knew just 
how to win it. On this same coronation ride, a small boy 
recited some verses in her honor, and she had her chariot 
stopped so she could hear what he was saying and see his 
face. The country was anxious that its queen should marry, 
and King Philip of Spain, three or four other kings, and 
princes and earls without number were eager for her hand. 
To choose one would make the others her enemies ; and she 
made each ambassador believe that she especially favored 
his master, but that she must delay a little before giving her 
answer. She kept one suitor waiting for seven years, another 
for eleven. Meanwhile, England was growing stronger, and 
that was just what this shrewd, faulty queen was working 
for. 

Elizabeth's contradictions. Elizabeth was full of con- 
tradictions. She could be most dignified and queenly when 
she chose; and she could be so unmannerly as to lean over, 
when in an impressive ceremonial an earl was kneeling 
before her, and tickle his neck with her own royal finger. 
She scolded her council ; she boxed the ears of a saucy noble- 
man ; but she was grace and gentleness itself to the common 
people and to any one else who paid her a specially well- 
turned compliment. One day when she was in danger of 



ENGLAND IN THE DAYS OF ELIZABETH 201 



having to set her foot in the mud — for the roads were as 
bad as roads could be — one Walter Raleigh gracefully 
spread his handsome cloak before her. This was his real 
introduction to the queen. It also introduced him to wealth 
and rank and the royal favor. Elizabeth was willful, but she 
knew how to choose wise 
men for her service. 

Elizabethan homes in the 
country. In the Elizabethan 
days people began to live in 
greater comfort than in ear- 
lier times. Farmhouses were 
now made in brick and stone. 
Wooden trenchers were less 
generally used, and many 
a farmhouse could make 
quite a display of silver. 
Chimneys began to be com- 
mon. Carpets were intro- 
duced, and the dirty rushes 
— rarely renewed save when 
the floor was swept for danc- 
ing — fell out of use. As life 

became safer, the nobles no longer needed moats and battle- 
ments for defense ; and they began to build houses of grace 
and beauty. Glass was used with great lavishness, and in- 
stead of narrow slits in walls so thick that little air or light 
could come in, there were now windows of such generous 
size that one English nobleman said he did not know 
where to go to get out of the sun. 

Town houses. In town there was quite as much change. 
The houses of the wealthy were made larger and higher and 
often finished inside with expensive wainscoting. There 
was much carving about the staircases and chairs and beds 




QUEEN ELIZABETH 



202 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



and the chimney corners. Handsome tapestries covered the 
walls. People did a good deal of traveling. No young man 
was regarded as properly educated unless he had made a 
tour of the Continent. 




BIRTHPLACE OF SIR WALTER RALEIGH 

(An English country house in the time of Queen Elizabeth) 

Stories of the New World. The air was full of stories of 
the New World and its marvels, and of the amazing for- 
tunes that had been made across the seas. Even the people 
who were no richer by a single shilling than they had been, 
felt richer because they heard so many wonder-tales of 
wealth; and they felt bold and adventurous because so 
many accounts of adventure had come to them. Spain 
had become rich and powerful, and also haughty and over- 
bearing. Of course the other nations were indignant, and 
especially in England there was hatred of everything 
Spanish. 

Troubles concerning the Church. During the sixteenth 
century many people in Germany, France, England, and 
Holland began to complain of the Catholic Church, to 
which they had all belonged before this. Some of them were 



ENGLAND IN THE DAYS OF ELIZABETH 203 

convinced that the Church was incorrect in its teachings 
of the meaning of the Bible, and many separated from it. 
These were called Protestants. For the people of a country 
to differ in religion was a thing not to be thought of in those 
days, and Catholic princes began to punish Protestants and 
Protestant princes to punish Catholics with a view to re- 
storing union. Ignatius Lo-yo'la, who founded the Order of 
Jesuits, was the most famous leader among the Catholics; 
Martin Luther of Germany and John Calvin of France 
were leaders among the Protestants. The feeling became 
more and more bitter. The Spaniards belonged to the 
Roman Catholic Church, while both the English and the 
Dutch had become Protestants. 

Lawlessness on the ocean. Law was beginning to prevail 
on land, but the world was not sufficiently enlightened to 
realize the need of law on the ocean. If the captain of one 
vessel had a good opportunity to capture one of another 
country, he usually did it if the two countries were at all 
inclined to be unfriendly. In this case, the result was that 
for a number of years, although Spain and England were 
not said to be at war, their ships were playing the pirate 
with one another. The captains were wild and adventurous 
and quite equal to defending themselves and striking a hard 
blow whenever they had a good chance. 

Francis Drake's early life. One of the boldest of these 
captains was Francis Drake. When he was a young man, 
he was employed on a little coasting vessel that carried 
goods between England and Holland and France. It was 
rather a dull, monotonous life, but evidently Drake did his 
best, for, quite in storybook fashion, when the skipper died, 
he left his faithful helper the boat. The young man went 
on running the coaster, even though he must have wished 
for a more adventurous life. It was not long, however, be- 
fore he had adventure enough to satisfy any one's ambition. 



204 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

Spain began sending out vessels to seize every English craft 
that could be found. The little coaster would have had no 
chance of escape, so Drake sold her and started on a voyage 
in a vessel large enough to protect itself. 



SPANISH TREASURE SHIPS 

Spanish treachery. This vessel was one of a fleet of six, 
and a famous sailor, Sir John Hawkins, was its admiral. 
Seizing negroes in Africa and selling them as slaves was 
looked upon as a perfectly proper enterprise, and this was 
what Sir John had set out to do. He was successful, and he 
started for home with so much gold and pearls that Drake's 
share would have made him a rich man. The vessels were 



ENGLAND IN THE DAYS OF ELIZABETH 205 

disabled by a storm and put into Vera Cruz for repairs. Be- 
hold, the harbor was full of great ships of treasure, ready to 
sail for Spain. " Promise not to interfere with us," said Sir 
John, " and we will not touch your ships." The Spaniards 
promised, but suddenly, when no one was expecting any 
trouble, they made a fierce attack upon the English vessels. 
Both Hawkins and Drake escaped, but the gold and pearls 
went to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. 

Drake's revenge. A very angry mariner was young 
Francis Drake. He appealed to Queen Elizabeth to make 
Spain refund his losses, but she did not venture to attack 
the powerful country. Then Drake took matters into his 
own hands. The pearls and gold were well repaid, for he 
robbed Spanish ships and colonies at pleasure. King Philip 
of Spain complained bitterly, but Queen Elizabeth did not 
punish her sailor. On the contrary, she had a long private 
talk with him, and one day Drake sailed out of Plymouth 
Harbor with five vessels. He went through the Strait of 
Magellan, and up the western coast of South America. In 
Valparaiso was a treasure ship freighted with good yellow 
gold fresh from the mines. "There 's one of our ships! " cried 
the Spanish sailors. They ran up their flags and beat the 
drums in welcome; but almost before they had discovered 
their mistake, Drake had seized their ship and fastened the 
men under the hatches. 

Drake captures the Spitfire. Drake in his Golden Hind 
was aiming at Lima in Peru, for there he felt sure of rinding 
vessels worth capturing. Unluckily, the Spanish ship the 
Spitfire had just sailed off loaded with treasure. So he set 
out to catch up with the Spitfire. He did it — he usually 
did what he undertook. The Spitfire yielded without a 
blow, and such a cargo went into the hold of the Golden 
Hind as no English vessel had ever carried before; thirteen 
chests of Spanish dollars, eighty pounds of gold, twenty-six 



206 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



tons of silver, and more jewels than any one had time to 
count. "I think her Majesty will be satisfied with her 
share," said Drake to himself; and then this " master thief 
of the western world," as King Philip bitterly called him, 
started for home. 




QUEEN ELIZABETH KNIGHTING DRAKE ON BOARD THE GOLDEN HIND 
(From a drawing by Sir John Gilbert) 

Drake on the California coast. The Spaniards were 
watching the Strait, but Drake cared little for that, for 
he meant to go home by way of the Northwest Passage — 
if he could find it. He sailed up the western coast of North 
America as far as Vancouver Island; but it grew so cold 
that he gave up the search for the Passage, sailed south, and 
entered a harbor near where San Francisco now stands. 
The cliffs were white like those of England, and therefore 
he named the place New Albion. He put upa" fair great 
post," and to the post he fixed a plate of metal marked with 



ENGLAND IN THE DAYS OF ELIZABETH 207 

the date and the name of the queen and claiming the coun- 
try for England. So it was that the English paid their first 
visit to the western shores of what is now the United States. 
Drake sails around the world. Then the Golden Hind 
crossed the Pacific. Drake fell among thievish savages, he 
ran upon a reef, and he was caught in fearful gales; but at 
last he sailed into Plymouth Sound, the first English captain 
who had been around the world. King Philip was clamoring 
for his punishment; but Queen Elizabeth would not give up 
either the treasure or the man. In a few months she went 
in all state to dine with him on board his vessel. Before she 
left, she made him a knight. She forbade that the Golden 
Hind should ever be destroyed. It was carefully preserved 
for a century; then it began to fall to pieces from decay. 
Part of it was made into a chair, and this was presented to 
the University of Oxford. 

STUDY SUGGESTIONS 

1. What was Queen Elizabeth's worst fault? 

2. What was her most valuable quality as a queen? Would she have 
been an agreeable friend to live with? 

3. What was the greatest improvement shown in the Elizabethan houses 
over the early castles? 

4. When you read of some bold adventures, do you wish you were in 
them or are you glad to be out of them? Would the motive of the ad- 
ventures make any difference? 

5. Why should Spain have become rich and overbearing? 

6. Why did law prevail on land sooner than on the sea? 

7. If Drake had not done his best as a young man, what do you think 
his afterlife would have been? 

8. Why do you suppose it seemed right to the people of Elizabeth's day 
to sell negroes as slaves, and does it seem right to us? 

9. What plans did Queen Elizabeth and Drake form in their long talk 
together? 

10. Describe the transfer of cargo from the Spitfire to the Golden Hind as 
if you had been present. 

11. Can you think of any reason why it was best for Drake to sail home 
by the route which he took? 



2o8 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

A Spaniard of Elizabeth's day tells an Englishman why America ought to 

belong to Spain. 
Write a speech welcoming the queen to London. 
A visit to an Elizabethan farmhouse. 
Drake describes the capture of the Spitfire. 
Queen Elizabeth on the Golden Hind. 



CHAPTER XVII 



RIVALRY BETWEEN FRANCE AND SPAIN 

Charles V of Spain. In the early part of the sixteenth 
century, Charles V, grandson of Ferdinand and Isabella, sat 
on the throne of Spain. He 
was only nineteen, but he 
was richer and more power- 
ful than any other sovereign 
had been since the times 
of Charlemagne. He ruled 
Spain, Austria, Burgundy, 
Sicily, Naples, Sardinia, 
Germany, and the Nether- 
lands. Besides this, he was 
called the emperor of the 
" Holy Roman Empire," 
that is, he had been rec- 
ognized by the Pope as 
the successor of the emper- 
ors of Rome. Then, too, 
his possessions in America 

must not be forgotten and the enormous wealth that was 
coming from them. 

Why trouble arose between France and Spain. On the 
throne of France was also a young king, Francis I, Jacques 
Carrier's sovereign. His country was strong and wealthy, 
his people were united in regard for their ruler. Between 
these two monarchs trouble arose for several reasons. One 
was that Spain was so proud and overbearing. Another was 




CHARLES v 



210 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

that she was so cruel in her punishment of Protestants that 
even the Catholics of France were horrified. A third reason 
was that both Charles and Francis laid claim to territory in 
Italy. Indeed, Charles meant to take the whole country. 
He finally succeeded, but his constant warfare weakened 
his country and was one of the reasons why Spain was not 
able to hold on quite as firmly as she would otherwise have 
done to her American conquests and claims. It was also a 
reason why France was not able to send expeditions to 
America and found colonies in that country. 

Chevalier Bayard. The French hero of this warfare was 
the Chevalier Bayard (ba'ard). At the age of sixteen he 
won knighthood by capturing a standard on the battlefield. 
He held the entrance to a bridge alone against two hundred 
Spaniards, quite after the fashion of Horatius in the early 
Roman days. At the siege of Brescia (bre'sha) he led his 
troops up the rampart and was severely wounded. He was 
taken to the house of a nobleman, and even in his weakness 
he protected the family from harm, and refused the princely 
gift that they wished to make him. He was the ideal knight, 
and it is no wonder that Francis would let no one else admit 
him to knighthood. More than once Bayard was captured 
by the Spanish and set free without ransom because they so 
admired his bravery. His greatest feat was the defense of a 
town which it had been declared impossible to defend. With 
only one thousand men, he held out for six weeks against 
an army of thirty-five thousand, and finally won the day. 
All France joined in doing him honor, as might well have 
been, for he had given King Francis time to get his troops 
together, and so saved his country from the horrors of 
invasion. 

The death of Bayard. At last, in the war between Charles 
and Francis, he received a mortal wound. One of his men 
helped him to dismount and set him under a tree with his 



RIVALRY BETWEEN FRANCE AND SPAIN 211 

face to the foe. He kissed the cross made by his sword-hilt, 
and said, "It is God's will to take me out of this world. I 
have received blessings and honors more than my due." He 
begged his attendants to leave him lest they should be cap- 
tured by the enemy, and he sent a last message to his king : 
"Tell him that I am distressed at being no longer able to 
do him service, for I had good will thereto." "And then," 
says the old chronicle, "he yielded up his soul to God, 
whereat all the enemy had mourning incredible." 

Coligny founds a colony in America. Peace had hardly 
been declared between Spain and France before trouble 
broke out in France because of differences of opinion on 
religious questions between the Catholics and the Prot- 
estants, or Huguenots, as they were called. The leader 
of the Protestants was a great French nobleman, Admiral 
Coligny (ko-len-ye'). He planned to found a colony in 
America where the Huguenots (hu'ge-nots), might live in 
peace. The company crossed the ocean, chose a place at 
the mouth of the St. Johns River in Florida, and there 
they built a fort. In honor of their king, Charles IX, they 
named it Fort Caroline, from Carolus, the Latin form of 
his name. 

Troubles of the colonists. But these colonists were not all 
devout folk by any means. Huguenot in name, many of 
them were restless, discontented people who dreamed wild 
dreams of gold mines and enormous fortunes rather than 
of worshiping God according to their consciences. There 
was not a farmer among them, and they made no attempt 
to till the ground. Naturally, when the food which they 
brought with them was exhausted, they had to live on roots, 
on the few fish that, at high prices, the Indians could be 
prevailed upon to bring them, and even on a wretched sort 
of bread made of powdered fish bones. 

The coming of Hawkins and Drake. The sick and hope- 



212 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



less men actually danced for joy when a little fleet of stately 
ships was seen off shore. It was Sir John Hawkins and 
Francis Drake, and they had come to land for fresh water. 
Sir John supplied the colonists with food and sold them one 
of his vessels. Good fortune shone upon them, for the Eng- 
lish fleet was not out of sight before a French squadron of 
seven ships appeared with food and supplies. 

The appearance of the Spaniards. This was their last 
bit of happiness, for just one week later, "a huge hulk, grim 

with the throats of cannon," 
and flying the Spanish flag, bore 
down upon the vessels of the 
French. The Spanish admiral 
demanded whence they came 
and who they were and what 
they were doing there. "We 
are Lutherans from France," 
they replied, ' ' and we are bring- 
ing soldiers and supplies for a 
fort which the king of France 
has in this country — and for 
many more which he soon will 
have," they added defiantly. 
Then the French in their turn 
became the questioners, and 
the admiral replied: "I am 
Pedro Menendez (ma-nan'dath), General of the fleet of the 
king of Spain, Don Philip the Second. I have come to this 
country to hang or behead every Lutheran whom I shall 
find by land or sea. At daybreak I shall board your ships, 
and if I find there any Catholic, he shall be well treated; 
but every heretic shall die." "Come on now, and see what 
you will get!" shouted the French. "Board!" ordered 
Menendez in wrath. But the French soldiers were on shore, 




SPANISH GENTLEMAN 



RIVALRY BETWEEN FRANCE AND SPAIN 213 

and the sailors cut the cables and fled for their lives, the 
Spaniards in pursuit. 

In the morning Menendez went back to the fort; but 
there stood the soldiers armed and waiting for him. He con- 
cluded not to make an attack at once, but he sailed a few 
miles south to wait for more vessels, and there founded 
St. Augustine, the oldest town in the United States. 

Menendez destroys Fort Caroline. Before long, the 
French fleet set sail from Fort Caroline, ready to destroy 
the Spanish settlement, but it was wrecked in a tempest. 
Then was the time for Menendez to strike, and he struck 
hard. He and his men made their way in the storm through 
swamps and morasses to Fort Caroline and destroyed it, 
killing nearly every person in the place. Some he hanged to 
trees, and put above them a board on which was written, 
"Not as to Frenchmen, but as to Lutherans." A little later 
he discovered a few men who had escaped to the shore from 
the wrecked vessels. All they asked was to be allowed to 
remain till French ships should come to take them back to 
France. Mercy was promised them, but Menendez put them 
to death. This bloody deed did not go unavenged, for some 
two years later a Frenchman crossed the sea for the express 
purpose of punishing the Spaniards. He killed every man 
at the fort. Several of them he hanged on the same trees 
on which the French had been hanged by Menendez, and 
above them he wrote, "Not as to Spaniards, but as to liars 
and murderers." 

STUDY SUGGESTIONS 

1. Which would have been better for France, to try to get territory in 
Italy or to found colonies in America? 

2. What was an ideal knight? 

3. What qualities must one possess in these days to be an ideal man? 

4. Describe an ideal king. 

5. Why should his enemies have mourned for Chevalier Bayard? 



214 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

6. What kind of people would make good colonists? 

7. Could the Huguenot colonists have answered the Spaniards more 
wisely? How? 

8. What were the characteristics of the Spaniards of those days? 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

Write a letter about Bayard. 

Coligny tells a Huguenot his plans for a colony in America. 

A Huguenot describes the troubles of the colony before the coming of the 

English and the French. 
Menendez's journey from St. Augustine to Fort Caroline. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

REVOLT OF THE DUTCH AGAINST THE KING OF SPAIN 

Holland. There are many old fairy stories about imagi- 
nary wonder-worlds down under the sea. They might almost 
have been written about Holland, for Holland is a wonder 
and much of it is below sea-level. It has no rocks, not even 
small stones, and its soil is a fine silt brought down by the 
Rhine and other rivers that flow through the country. In 
the first place it was a low, marshy district, hardly more 
than a great morass, and frequently the ocean swept over 
much of it. Only a people with the steady patience of the 
Dutch could ever have made such a place into a garden, 
but this is what the Netherlanders have done. First they 
had to plan to keep the ocean out. To do this, they built 
at great cost strong walls called dikes. These are so wide 
that there are often roads and houses and trees on top of 
them. They are so high that people in boats can look far 
down into the windows of the cottages below. These dikes 
must be closely watched, for if a very small hole is not cared 
for, it soon becomes a big hole, and then there is terrible 
danger. Instead of streets and lanes, there are big canals 
and little canals; and far down below them stretch bright 
green meadows, rather soggy, but exceedingly fertile and 
well taken care of, for whatever the Dutch do at all, they 
do thoroughly. 

The windmills. The land would be more damp than it is 
if there were no windmills; but there are hundreds of them, 
flapping their great white wings and looking like flocks of 



2l6 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



monstrous white butterflies. They are hard workers, how- 
ever, for they pump up water from the swampy land into 
the canals and make it dry enough to live upon. The silt 
brought by the rivers is rich and fertile, and there are no 
better gardens in western Europe than this land which was 
once a swamp. 

The enterprise of the Dutch. The people who had rescued 
this land from the ocean were sturdy and independent. 

They were fully ac- 
customed to water, 
as may be guessed, 
and they made good 
fishermen and mar- 
iners. They were 
not so fond of dar- 
ing adventure as the 
Spaniards, but they 
built a large num- 
ber of merchant ves- 
sels and carried 
goods everywhere. 
Sail on whatever sea 
one would, there 
were the fleets of 
the Dutch. They 
made almost as 
much use of the 
Black and the Med- 
iterranean Seas as 
the merchants of 
Venice and Genoa. They had a large trade with the East 
Indies, and were particularly anxious to get control of that 
mysterious Northwest Passage in which every one believed 
but which no one could find. In hope of discovering this, 




-^t&^3> 



THE HALF-MOON LEAVING AMSTERDAM 



REVOLT OF THE DUTCH 217 

the Dutch hired Henry Hudson, an English mariner of 
much experience in the North, to go in search of it. He tried 
to go north of Europe, but the ice prevented. Then he 
searched for a waterway through the continent. Since there 
was none, he necessarily failed; but he did discover the 
Hudson River, which took its name from him. 

The independence of the Dutch. The Dutch became a 
wealthy folk, and they lived in comfort and even luxury. 
They were so fond of clean houses that an old story declares 
a Dutch woman once scrubbed her kitchen floor until she 
fell through into the cellar. They were well educated ; even 
the simplest peasants could read and write; and in those 
times many people of rank had small knowledge of such 
accomplishments. The Dutch were a most independent 
people. In at least one of the Dutch provinces, whenever 
a new ruler came to the throne, and the good folk of the 
province swore to be faithful to him, they also declared that 
if he did not respect their privileges, they should consider 
themselves released from their oath. 

The laws of Charles V. These were the people over whom 
Philip II had rule. He was the son of Charles V of Spain, 
and inherited his father's kingdoms, among them the 
Netherlands, or the present Holland and Belgium. The 
southern part, now called Belgium, was chiefly Catholic, 
and with Catholics Charles had no quarrel ; but the northern 
part, now called Holland, was chiefly Protestant, and in the 
determination to bring the Dutch back to the Catholic 
Church, he decreed that all who were convicted of heresy 
should be burned alive, buried alive, or beheaded. If a man 
merely owned a book declared heretical, he was liable to 
these penalties, and his friends were punished if they even 
asked that mercy be shown him. Such were the laws, but 
they soon became a dead letter. 

Philip's treatment of the Netherlands. When Philip II 



218 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



came to the throne, although he had sworn to protect the 
liberties and customs of the Netherlanders, he quartered 
thousands of Spanish soldiers upon them, and he gave 
Spanish officials power over them. Worse than this he 
renewed the laws of his father against heresy, and from his 

behavior in Spain it was 
evident that he meant 
to execute them most 
rigorously and to estab- 
lish the Inquisition, as 
the court that presided 
over heretical trials was 
called . I n Spain , a Prot- 
estant who was to be 
burned for the one crime 
of his religious belief, 
called to the king, " Is it 
thus that you allow your 
innocent subjects to be 
persecuted? " Philip re- 
plied, "If it were my 
own son, I would fetch 
the wood to burn him, were he such a wretch as thou art." 
Such was the man who reigned over the sturdy, independ- 
ent people of the Netherlands. It is little wonder that they 
rebelled. 

The rise of the " Beggars." When Philip sailed for Spain, 
he left his half-sister Margaret to govern in his place. Before 
long," the nobles united, declaring that they would give their 
lives and their property to protect their liberties and put 
an end to religious persecution. Several hundred of them 
went to Margaret to ask her to inform Philip that his sub- 
jects were loyal to him, but that his persecutions were ruin- 
ing the country. Governors of Dutch provinces told her 




PHILIP II 



REVOLT OF THE DUTCH 219 

that they would never stand by and see their countrymen 
burned to death for errors of religion. Margaret was troubled 
and fearful of what might come. A councilor who stood 
near her exclaimed, "Madam, are you afraid of a pack 
of beggars?" The nobles caught up the name, and after 
this the party was known as the "Beggars." People wore 
medals to show their sympathy, and some of them even 
put on the usual dress of pilgrims and begging monks, 
wearing gray cloth and carrying the wooden bowl of the 
beggar. 

Many Dutch flee to England. The Netherlanders were 
ablaze with stern patriotism and the determination to stand 
by their rights and not to submit to oppression. Now came 
word that Philip was on his way in wrath with a large army. 
To escape loss of property and perhaps death, people fled 
from the country, possibly one hundred thousand in all. 
Many of them crossed the English Channel, even in little 
fishing boats. The shrewd Queen Elizabeth gave them a 
hearty welcome, for numbers of them were weavers, and 
she was much pleased to have these excellent workmen 
come to her realm. 

William of Orange becomes leader of the Dutch. Philip 
sent an able general, the famous Duke of Alva, to subdue the 
country; but now the Netherlanders had determined to be 
free from Spanish rule, and they fought desperately and with 
no thought of surrender. Margaret left the country and 
Alva became its governor. As far as possible, he arrested 
every Beggar, even every one who had shown the least 
sympathy with the Beggars, had them tortured and then 
put to death. To what church they belonged made no 
difference to him, and he was just as merciless to the Cath- 
olics of what is now Belgium as to the Protestants of 
Holland. Meanwhile, the religious persecutions were more 
relentless than ever. The most powerful man in the Nether- 



220 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



lands was William, Prince of Orange, or William the Silent, 
and he became the leader of the Dutch. So it was that the 
little country entered upon an eighty-years' struggle with 
the richest and strongest kingdom of Europe. 

The siege of Leyden. During this war occurred the siege 
of Leyden (M'den), one of the most famous sieges in all 

history. The Spaniards had 
built so many redoubts that 
there was no hope of aid 
by land. William told the 
Netherlanders that the only 
way to save the city was 
to break down the dikes 
and let the ocean roll over 
their homes. "Better a 
drowned land than a lost 
land ! ' ' cried the Dutch. The 
dikes were pierced, and Ley- 
den became an island in 
the midst of the sea. Eight 
hundred "Sea- Beggars" set 
out on the new ocean in 
their flat-bottomed boats to 
carry food to the starving 
city; but when they were almost within Sight of it, the ves- 
sels ran aground. They must have eighteen inches of water, 
and there was no hope of getting it unless the wind should 
shift to the west. The city was starving. Thousands had 
already died of famine or plague. The Spanish commander 
demanded a surrender. "When the last hour has come, 
we will set fire to the city and perish rather than suffer 
our homes to be polluted and our liberties crushed," de- 
clared the people. The Spanish soldiers laughed. "As well 
can the Prince of Orange pluck the stars from the sky as 




WILLIAM THE SILENT 
(Founder of the Dutch Republic) 



REVOLT OF THE DUTCH 



221 



bring the ocean to the walls of Leyden for your relief," they 
cried. 

Leyden is saved by a tempest. Day after day the besieged 
people watched the sky, and at last there came a tempest. 
The waters of the North Sea swept over the crumbling dikes. 
The Spaniards ran for their lives along the pathway, which 
was already sliding into the sea in masses. Many were 
drowned in the wild retreat ; 
many more were attacked 
by the harpoons and boat- 
hooks of the Zealanders (ze'- 
land-ers), experienced in the 
Arctic fisheries. There was 
one strong fort for the food 
ships yet to pass. A carrier 
pigeon had told the starving 
Leydenites that the bread 
fleet lay just out of sight 
behind it, and they were planning one last desperate struggle 
in the morning. That night strange wandering lights were 
seen about the fort. In the morning a boy appeared on 
its summit waving his cap. The lights were the lanterns 
of the Spaniards. They had departed in the darkness, and 
this boy alone had seen them go. So it was that Leyden 
was saved. So it was that the Dutch strove for independ- 
ence and their own just rights. 

Murder of William of Orange. The struggle continued. 
Philip became convinced that William was the great obsta- 
cle in his way, and he offered a large reward to any one who 
would murder him. At last he fell by the hand of an assassin, 
and died with the cry, "O my God, have mercy upon this 
poor people!" 




DUTCH WINDMILLS 



222 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



STUDY SUGGESTIONS 

1. Do you know any land made out of swamp land? 

2. How are swampy places on roads made dry and firm? 

3. What is the meaning of the old saying, "The Dutch have taken Hol- 
land"? 

4. Why do the Dutch use windmills instead of steam or electricity to 
pump up the water? Could we use them in this country for more 
purposes than we do? 

5. Read how a mud-hole became a garden in Brave Little Holland, by 
William Elliot Griffis, pages 110-121. 

6. How would a wise ruler have behaved toward his Dutch subjects? 

7. Have you read anything about Philip II that shows him to have been 
a poor ruler for such people as the Dutch? 

8. Why was Queen Elizabeth glad to have good workmen come to Eng- 
land? What kinds of people are we glad to welcome to the United 
States? 

9. In how many ways did Philip injure Holland? 

10. Were the Dutch right in saying, "Better a drowned land than a lost 
land "? What did they value even more than their homes? 

11. Read about the siege of Leyden in Motley's Rise of the Dutch Republic, 
vol. II. 

12. Tell the story of the Dutch boy on the dikes as if you had been he. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

A walk on the dikes. 

A Dutchman speaks of his country's commerce. 
When the "Beggars" came to Margaret. 
Queen Elizabeth welcomes some Dutch weavers. 



CHAPTER XIX 



ENGLAND JOINS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST SPAIN 

The Duke of Parma in the Netherlands. A few years 
before the death of William the Silent, Philip sent the Duke 
of Parma to the Netherlands as governor. He was a shrewd, 
wary man who had no 



scruples about how his 
schemes were carried 
out if they only suc- 
ceeded. He planned 
to make a separation 
between the north and 
south Netherlands. 
The two districts were 
unlike in their wishes 
and their religion, and 
all that held them to- 
gether was their de- 
termination to stand 
by their liberties. The 
Duke gave bribes, he 
did whatever he could 
to cause dissension be- 
tween them, and he 
used force where craft 
was not sufficient. The 
result was that he suc- 
ceeded in winning back the southern provinces for Spain. 
By the efforts of William, the seven northern provinces 




THE NETHERLANDS: SHOWING DUTCH AND 
SPANISH POSSESSIONS 



224 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



formed a union, and in 1581 they declared their independ- 
ence. Their declaration made some statements that were 
new in those days and sound much like our own Declara- 
tion of Independence of two centuries later; for instance, 
they declared that it is the duty of a prince to care for his 
subjects as a shepherd guards his sheep. When the prince 
does not do his duty, says the Declaration, it is only reason- 
able for his subjects to depose him and choose some one 
else in his place. 




ELIZABETHS AUTOGRAPH 



The Dutch appeal to England. Declaring independence 
and becoming independent are two different things, and 
there was much fighting still to be done before Holland 
could become free. The seven little States pluckily con- 
tinued their struggle with wealthy and powerful Spain. 
They tried to get an ally, and naturally they looked to 
England. That was a Protestant country, and Queen 
Elizabeth had some Dutch blood in her veins. They asked 
her to help them. Spain also sent an envoy and asked her 
not to help them. This wary queen thought that if she did 
not help the Dutch, France would, and thus France would 
become too powerful for the comfort of England. On the 
other hand, if she did help them generously, and they be- 
came really independent, Philip would pounce down upon 



ENGLAND JOINS IN FIGHT AGAINST SPAIN 225 

England. If the States yielded to Philip and became Cath- 
olic, neither France nor Spain would gain in power; and if 
they continued to fight, England would be safe from Philip 
while the fight lasted. 

The queen's delay. The two envoys did not have a par- 
ticularly pleasant time waiting for the queen to make up her 
mind, for she promised and flattered, and flattered and 
promised, and would not bind herself to anything. She 
finally decided to do nothing for either side, that is, nothing 
openly, but to send secretly a very little aid to the Dutch, 
enough to encourage them in fighting, but not enough to 
enable them to win.- 

The English people help the Dutch. The English people, 
however, rose to the occasion. They sent lavish gifts of 
money, and one by one five thousand Englishmen slipped 
across the English Channel to help in the struggle. If a 
Dutch privateer was too closely pursued, it could run into 
some English harbor and be safe. Occasionally an English 
cruiser would run up the Dutch flag and make a dash at a 
Spanish vessel — and these English "dashes" were quite 
likely to sink the ship. As for the seamen along the southern 
coast of England, they were having a fine time with their 
plunder. Little cared they for the Pope's "line of demar- 
cation" ; even the queen herself could not stop them. Stories 
of Alva's outrages began to come home from the five thou- 
sand, and Englishmen were enraged. They were convinced 
that Philip was planning to do his utmost to overpower their 
country, and they were eager to strike the first blow. Eliza- 
beth never liked to get herself into any corner which had no 
hole for escape, and for some time she held off, and claimed 
Philip as her "good friend," even while her captains were 
doing their best to sink his ships. 

Elizabeth becomes protector of the Dutch States. The 
time came at last when even Elizabeth could not hold off 



226 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



any longer, and in 1585 she became formally the protector 
of the Dutch States. This was war without any question, 
and soon Drake sailed out of Plymouth with full permission 

— together with a large subscription from the queen herself 

— to attack Spanish shipping wherever he might find it. 

The chances are that he 
would have done some- 
thing like that in any case, 
for Sir Francis Drake did 
not always wait for per- 
mission. 

Drake revenges Spain's 
treachery. It seems that 
some months earlier, be- 
fore England and Spain 
were openly at war, Philip 
had asked England to 
carry grain to a starving 
district in northwestern 
Spain, and had promised 
protection for the ships. 
While the grain was being 
unloaded, Spanish officials and others disguised themselves 
as merchants, boarded the vessels, and demanded their 
surrender. The crew promptly dropped them overboard. 
Drake meant to get revenge for this piece of treachery on 
the part of Spain. He sailed away from England, capturing 
Spanish vessels by way of amusement, and soon entered the 
harbor of Vigo. The Spaniards gave them banquets and 
promised whatever they asked, but did nothing, for they 
hoped help would soon arrive. Drake understood this. He 
captured ships and helped himself lavishly to whatever 
valuables there were in the town, and then sailed merrily 
away to the West Indies, leaving Philip to rage about the 
"insolence" of the English captain. 




SPANISH GALLEON 



ENGLAND JOINS IN FIGHT AGAINST SPAIN 227 



An English army is sent to aid the Dutch. Now that 
Elizabeth was the protector of the Dutch, the least that she 
could do was to send an army to help them, and this she 
did. The Earl of Leicester was in command, but the hero 
of the expedition was his nephew, Sir Philip Sidney, who, 
like Bayard, was a knight 
"without fear and with- 
out reproach." He was 
dauntless on the field of 
battle; he had great abil- 
ity as a statesman ; he 
had written a fascinating 
romance called "Ar-ca'- 
di-a," which every one 
admired; and he was so 
gentle and courteous and 
thoughtful of others that 
he was perhaps the best- 
loved man in England. 
Twenty- two years after his 
death, an old school friend 
wrote his life, and asked 
that on his own tomb might be written, "Servant to Queen 
Elizabeth, Councillor to King James, and Friend to Sir 
Philip Sidney." 

The death of Sir Philip Sidney. At the battle of Zutphen, 
the lord marshal chanced to enter the field without greaves, 
or armor for the thighs. Sidney, with an impulse of gener- 
osity, refused to be better protected than his commander, 
and threw off his own. It was upon the thigh that he was 
struck by the ball which shattered his leg. As he rode from 
the field, water was brought by his attendant to quench his 
fierce thirst. But he caught sight of the wistful eyes of a 
wounded soldier, and gave him the flask. " Drink," he said, 




SIR PHILIP SIDNEY 



228 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

"thy need is greater than mine." All England watched for 
the messages which came from him every day, and hoped 
earnestly that he might recover; but from the first he be- 
lieved that he could not. Like Socrates, on his last day he 
talked with his friends about the immortality of the soul, 
and then bade them farewell. So died the brave and noble 
Sir Philip Sidney. 

Drake at San Domingo. When Drake left Vigo, he sailed 
away for the West Indies. At San Domingo, Carlisle, who 
commanded the soldiers of the fleet, put a small force in 
front of each of the two gates, divided his men into two 
parties, and then made a rush from the two directions 
straight to the market-place. San Domingo had been 
thought to be a wonderfully rich place, but Drake was some- 
what disappointed in what he found. He was accustomed 
to such treasures as those of the Spitfire, and he spoke quite 
scornfully of the "great store of strong wine, sweet oil, 
vinegar, olives, and such-like provisions, excellent white 
meal, woolen and linen cloth, and some silks, all which 
served us for great relief. Good store of brave apparel our 
soldiers also found." 

Drake at Cartagena. At Cartagena (kar-ta-je'na), which 
was called the best fortified place on the Spanish Main, 
Carlisle and his men were quietly landed at midnight three 
miles from the town. They pushed up to the center, and 
there found that Drake and his sailors had half won the 
place already. The men fought at every street corner, and 
the Spaniards even got help from Indians, who used poi- 
soned arrows, but at daybreak the town was in the hands 
of the English. After a stay of six weeks, Drake sailed up 
to Cuba, burned the little settlement of St. Augustine made 
by Menendez, and at length returned to Portsmouth. 

Drake's achievements. Drake was not quite satisfied 
with this voyage. One third of his followers had died, and 



ENGLAND JOINS IN FIGHT AGAINST SPAIN 229 

he had not made some of the attacks that he had planned. 
On the other hand, he had brought home what other cap- 
tains would have called a generous booty, and he had done 
a great deal of injury to Spain. Philip was accustomed to 
send out each year a fleet for India, but this year he forbade 
not only this fleet but all other trading vessels from leaving 
the country. He did send out sixteen ships in pursuit of 
Drake, but a storm drove them back to harbor. 

The Invincible Armada. Philip had at last made up his 
mind to make one tremendous attack upon England, and 
he was preparing a great fleet of warships for that purpose. 
Elizabeth's older sister Mary had been Philip's wife, and 
he believed that he could persuade or force the English peo- 
ple to accept this as a good claim to the crown. He intended 
to drive Elizabeth from the throne and take her place. He 
would then be so powerful that he could easily overpower 
Holland and bring both countries back to the Catholic 
Church. The Spanish word for fleet is ar-ma'da, and Philip 
was so sure of victory over England that he called his fleet 
the Invincible Armada. 

Philip's plans. Philip set to work with enthusiasm to 
make preparations. Night and day hammers beat in the 
Tagus River and elsewhere. In the ports merchant vessels 
had been seized. The admiral worked hard for two months 
planning just how to pounce upon England. The Armada 
should sail into the English Channel until it was in the nar- 
rowest place, just off Calais (ka-la')- Not far from Calais, 
the Duke of Parma should be with the army, ready to be 
taken on transports to the fleet, and then to the English 
coast, where they would at once attack London. On paper 
this looked plain and easy; but the sagacious admiral 
seemed to forget that the ships and soldiers of the English 
and the Dutch might take a hand in all these fine plans. 
He went into the most minute details. He made lists of 



230 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

what arms and what clothing were needed for sailors and 
soldiers; he stated just where these articles could be found 
and what their price would be. He even noted how much 
each article weighed, how it could best be stored, and how 
much room it would require. The rations needed were put 
down and their exact cost. The salary of every man of 
rank was given. 

Philip's love of details. Philip enjoyed details, and this 
lengthy paper must have been a delight to him. He was not 
exactly a delight to those who were working for him, how- 
ever, for he kept himself far away from where the work was 
going on, but insisted upon having every detail reported to 
him. This could have been managed in spite of poor roads, 
but he was continually changing his orders. A messenger 
would travel post haste to the fleet with an order; and by 
the time a beginning of carrying it out had been made, an- 
other messenger would arrive with a quite different order. 

Philip's preparations. The admiral asked for nearly six 
hundred sail, soldiers, sailors, and horses in large numbers 
These must be brought together, and men trained to use tha 
guns ; and all this force must be fed for eight months before 
any start could be made. Spain could not provide all this; 
so the plans had to be somewhat modified; but even then 
it was an enormous force that was preparing to conquer 
England. 

Drake " singes the King of Spain's beard." Unluckily for 
Philip, Sir Francis Drake had also a plan. With the queen's 
permission, he collected some twenty-five vessels of all sorts 
and sizes and set out. He sailed straight to Ca'diz, and 
there were the great ships, some all ready to sail, others 
being loaded with provisions and arms. Drake sent word 
home that Philip had brought together food and wine 
enough to serve forty thousand men for a whole year. The 
"master thief" spent two days in Cadiz, and a busy two 



ENGLAND JOINS IN FIGHT AGAINST SPAIN 231 



days they were. He sank one after another of the mighty 
warships, high at prow and stern, loaded with heavy arma- 
ment, unwieldy and clumsy. The English boats were small, 
and the English sailors had always had a little dread of 
these great floating castles; but now they burned and de- 
spoiled at pleasure. They seem to have destroyed forty 
or fifty vessels and per- 



FRANCISCV5 DRAEXfO NOBILISSIMVS 
KQVES AN6LFAE • IS EST QV1 TOTO T 

"errarvm ^&s»^ orbe crgnovco 



jd fiicunnhico Jxrnosco 
inlmyiubtK, m UdluJi 
IK est imposs.k.fr.fft 



haps three fourths of a 
million dollars' worth of 
food. After this, they 
did the same thing at 
other places where Spain 
was most busy with her 
preparations. 

Then Drake took a lit- 
tle trip to the Azores 
(a-zorz') and there cap- 
tured a great merchant 
ship loaded with spices 
and drugs and silks and 
carpets from the East In- 
dies. The cargo of this 
one ship much more than 
paid all the expenses of 
the expedition. He sent 
word to the queen that 
he had "singed the king 
of Spain's beard." His 
vice-admiral complained 
that he was "wedded to 

his own opinion and will," but no one else in England found 
any fault when his story had been told and the booty shown. 

The obstinacy of Philip. King Philip was impatient to 
send off the Armada; but his friend Drake had destroyed 




SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 
(From an original portrait in St. James's Palace) 



232 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

stores which it would take a long time to collect again, and 
he had sunk ships which it would be neither easy nor rapid 
work to replace. Late in the autumn there were almost cer- 
tain to be tempests, and even if there was nothing worse 
than contrary winds, these would be dangerous for ships 
near an enemy's country and with no place of refuge. So 
said King Philip's advisers. His wise old admiral told him 
bluntly that it would be impossible. Parma said the same 
thing and warned him that the Spanish plans had leaked 
out, and not only England but Holland and France knew 
all about them. For years his admirals had been telling him 
how much better the light English vessels were than the 
top-heavy Spanish ships, and how much more effective it 
was to deliver gun-fire low and from the broadside; but 
neither this nor any other advice moved him in the least. 
He was determined that the ships should go, and in the 
spring the Armada sailed for England; rather, it tried to 
sail, for a westerly gale kept it for a month in the mouth of 
the Tagus. Even after it got out to sea, there was a storm 
which crippled the ships and scattered them in all direc- 
tions. The two commanders urged Philip to give up the 
attempt at invasion. They told him that the food was 
spoiled, the crews weak and sick, the fleet far inferior to 
that of the English; but Philip's reply was a command to 
set sail. 

Loyalty of the English Catholics. But what was England 
about in that time of danger? Philip had felt certain that 
just as soon as his men appeared, the English Catholics 
would hasten to their aid; but the English Catholics had 
no such ideas. They loved their Church, but they did not 
love either Philip or the Spanish Inquisition, and they stood 
firmly for their country. A Catholic was made admiral of 
the English fleet and Drake became vice-admiral. Rank 
and family went for nothing; men of wealth and high birth 



ENGLAND JOINS IN FIGHT AGAINST SPAIN 233 

joined the army or navy as volunteers. Every man was 
ready to haul a rope or fire a gun. The honor lay not in 
commanding a vessel, but in doing one's best for England. 

English patriotism. In one way England was strong be- 
cause she was weak; that is, her fortifications were out of 
order, some of them ready to tumble, but the Englishmen 
knew it, and realized that if they did not wish to be under 
Spanish rule, every man in the land must do his best to 
make up for her lack. The royal navy consisted of only 
thirty warships, not one of them so large as the smallest of 
the Spanish fleet. The government asked London for five 
thousand men and fifteen ships. There were only about 
seventeen thousand men in all London, but the reply went 
back promptly, "We will gladly provide ten thousand men 
and thirty ships, and the ships shall be amply furnished. 
Every little seashore village sent out its boats. Men of all 
ranks and from all over the land hurried to join the forces 
that were gathering together near London. Every man who 
owned a sailing vessel offered its services and his own to 
help defend his country; and piratical attacks were so com- 
mon in those days that few captains of merchant vessels 
had not had some experience in resisting an enemy. The 
result was that there were all sorts of craft, some of them 
only little fishing boats. Even the ships of the Royal navy 
were not well provisioned and not nearly enough powder 
was provided for them, for Elizabeth was a thrifty woman, 
and she did dislike to spend money even to fight the Span- 
iards. Whenever there was a rumor that they had given up 
their plans, she would insist upon reducing the English fleet. 

The game of bowls. According to an old story, Drake 
Sir John Hawkins, Sir Walter Raleigh, Admiral Howard^ 
and Frobisher, the famous navigator, were playing bowls 
together in Plymouth, when a sailor rushed up to the group 
and cried, "Admiral, Admiral, the Spaniards are coming. 



234 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



There are hundreds of them." The story declares that 
Drake said, "How is it, Admiral? Won't there be time to 
finish the game and then go out and thrash the dons? " 

The " wasps and the bear." Whether the game was fin- 
ished or not, is a question; but it is certainly true that the 

Armada was coming slowly 
up the English Channel. 
That night signal fires were 
lighted on the hills, and in 
the morning the queer little 
English fleet went out from 
Plymouth Harbor to meet 
the foe. The Armada formed 
in a wide crescent, seven 
miles from tip to tip. The 
English vessels were not 
strong enough to come to 
a regular general engage- 
ment, but they were so light 
and quick, and the Spanish 
galleons were so slow and heavy, that the encounter seemed, 
as was said, like one between a swarm of wasps and a bear. 
The Armada sailed majestically along toward Calais, and 
the impudent little English boats pursued. One of them 
would slip up under the very guns of a clumsy Spanish gal- 
leon, fire a shot or two at her and flee; and long before the 
Spanish guns could be trained upon her, she would be far 
away, firing at another galleon. It is said that some of the 
English vessels went the whole length of the crescent, firing 
at ship after ship. This was highly improper, thought the 
Spaniards, for their notion of a fight at sea was to fire a few 
guns, not into the hull, but into the rigging of an enemy's 
vessel to prevent her escaping, then to close and carry on a 
hand-to-hand combat. 




SIR WALTER RALEIGH 



ENGLAND JOINS IN FIGHT AGAINST SPAIN 235 

The Armada comes to anchor. The Spanish warships 
were most alarming to look at, but they were exceedingly 
clumsy and unwieldy. If the English had been willing to 
stand still and let the Spaniards sail up to them in dignified 
fashion and then carry out the rest of their programme, the 
"dons" might possibly have won the day; but while this 
sort of fighting aroused their wrath, they had no way to 
meet it. Besides their light, quick boats, the English had 




THE SPANISH ARMADA ATTACKED BY THE ENGLISH FLEET 

another advantage in that many of them had met the Span- 
iards before and had lost fear of them, while the Spaniards 
had not lost fear of the English, especially of Drake. There 
was no general encounter, but over and over again there 
were savage duels between two ships. One Spanish ship 
caught fire, one sprang her mast; and Drake took them both. 
One actually surrendered to him without firing a gun, so 
great was the fear of his name. The Armada came to anchor 
off Calais. Plans did not work out quite as the Spaniards 
had expected, for when Parma was ready to transport his 
troops to the warships, he found the fleet of the Dutch lying 
in his way. 

The queen goes to camp. Elizabeth did not like to spend 



236 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



money, but she had courage enough for a whole realm ; and 
her fearlessness was an inspiration. She went on horseback 
to the camp of her troops, and with the sword of state and a 
white-plumed helmet, she rode back and forth before the 
lines. "I have the body of a weak and feeble woman," she 
said, "but I have the heart of a king, and of a king of Eng- 
land, too." "Queen Elizabeth! Queen Elizabeth!" shouted 
the soldiers in wild enthusiasm. 




DESTRUCTION OF THE SPANISH ARMADA 



The fireships. It is said that the queen herself suggested 
the next move. One night a few small vessels left the Eng- 
lish fleet and were slowly towed in the direction of the Span- 
ish ships. No men were on board. The towboats withdrew, 
and the vessels drifted with the tide. Suddenly they burst 
into flames. There were explosions, and long tongues of fire 
shot out and clutched one Spanish vessel after another. 
" Fireships! Fireships! " the Spaniards cried in terror. They 
cut their cables and fled to the north, for between them and 
Spain lay the English fleet. If the Spaniards would ever see 



ENGLAND JOINS IN FIGHT AGAINST SPAIN 237 

their homes again, they must sail around the British Isles. 
But they had no pilots and no charts. Their ships were all 
more or less shattered, and to make matters worse, they 
were caught in terrible tempests. The Irish coast was 
strewn with Spanish wrecks. Not more than half of the 
Invincible Armada ever returned to Spain. 

The result of Philip's attack. Philip had done his best to 
conquer England. He had actually made England stronger, 
because so many good workers and good citizens had crossed 
the Channel from Holland; because the attack of the Ar- 
mada had united her people ; because her victory had made 
her realize her own power and dare to use it; and because 
the carrying trade, which had been almost entirely in the 
hands of Holland, was now chiefly in the hands of the Eng- 
lish. Philip had made Spain so weak that in time Holland 
won her independence. He had destroyed the shipping of 
Spain. She was no longer first on the ocean. Before this, 
one reason for hesitating to plant colonies in America had 
been the fear of such an attack as ruined Coligny's colony; 
but now the English might make settlements as freely as 
they chose. Indeed, Spain could no longer protect her own 
colonies. Little by little she lost them, until she now pos- 
sesses not one foot of land on this side of the world. 



STUDY SUGGESTIONS 

1. Why should the Duke of Parma wish to divide the Netherlands? 

2. If you had been in Queen Elizabeth's place when the Dutch asked 
for help, what should you have done? 

3. Which was more honorable in manner of fighting, Drake or the 
Spaniards? 

4. Which seems to you Sir Philip Sidney's finest quality? 

5. What indications of Philip's character do you get from his plans to 
conquer England? 

6. What do you think of the Spanish admiral's plans? What weaknesses 
were there in them? 



238 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

7. What do you suppose Queen Elizabeth said when she received Drake's 
message? 

8. What quality of Philip's comes out strongly after the destruction of 
the collected stores? 

9. In what different ways did the English show their loyalty? 

10. Why were the Englishmen so determined not to be under Spanish 
rule? 

1 1 . Tell the story of the coming of the Armada as the sailor would have 
told it. 

12. What does Drake's speech show of his character? 

13. Why is fear a bad thing in a fight? 

14. Would the English have fought as willingly if Philip had been their 
ruler? 

15. In how many ways did Queen Elizabeth help her troops? 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

Write a letter asking Queen Elizabeth to help the Dutch. 

Drake tells the story of the treachery of the Spanish in regard to the grain. 

The wounded soldier at Zutphen writes his mother of Sir Philip Sidney's 
kindness. 

The Spanish admiral explains to Philip his plans for the conquest of 
England. 

Drake tells of "singeing the king of Spain's beard." 

The Duke of Parma advises Philip to delay sending out the Armada. 

The captain of a little sailing vessel offers it to the queen. 

This same captain describes his firing at the Spanish galleons. 

A soldier writes home of the queen's visit to camp. 

A Spaniard describes the coming of the fireships. 

Elizabeth writes to Philip what an advantage his attack has been to Eng- 
land. 



CHAPTER XX 

ENGLISH VOYAGES WESTWARD 

Sir Humphrey Gilbert plans a colony in Newfoundland. 

Ten years before the defeat of the Armada there was con- 
siderable talk in England about the New World. Spain 
claimed the whole American continent by virtue of her dis- 
coverers and the Pope's Line; but England began to recall 
the fact that she, too, had had some discoverers, John and 
Sebastian Cabot. It began to dawn upon the minds of some 
of the English that it might be well worth while to have a 
colony of their own, and that the famous Line did not 
settle the ownership of the western world. Moreover, the 
exploits of Hawkins and Drake and other bold mariners 
had suggested that it might be possible to defend a colony 
if necessary. Sir Humphrey Gilbert was especially inter- 
ested, and he obtained the royal permission to found a 
colony in Newfoundland. 

The failure of the colony. It looked at first as if this col- 
ony would have to be founded in England, for everything 
went wrong. Sir Humphrey had five hundred soldiers and 
sailors, and a pilot who had been in the employ of the king 
of Spain. He had also a man of English birth who was paid 
by the Spanish ambassador to go with the expedition and 
make it fail if he possibly could. They started, but an in- 
solent young nobleman deserted and persuaded a number 
of men to go with him. The next difficulty was a fight with 
some Spaniards, and after this came the worst trouble of 
all, a strong head wind that blew them back to Plymouth. 

Sir Humphrey's second attempt. Thus ended Sir Hum- 



240 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



phrey Gilbert's first attempt, but he had good courage, and 
five years later he tried again. He was wiser than some 
of the people who tried to make settlements, for although 
he had many worthless men on board, he had seen to it 
that there were carpenters, masons, blacksmiths, and ship- 
wrights in the company. Of course he took men who knew 
how to refine gold, for there was no knowing what stores of 
it might be found in the wonderland across the sea. He 
must have learned about the spy who 
went on the first voyage, for this time 
he looked out for treachery and had 
two sets of watchwords. One was to 
be used at once, but the other was 
sealed up with wax and was not to 
be opened till they had gone beyond 
the coast of Ireland. This was done 
so that no traitor could steal away 
from his vessel and by betraying the 
watchword to an enemy make it pos- 
sible for him to slip up in the night 
and board one of the ships. Sir 
Humphrey had even provided for his 
colonists music of some sort, and for 
the Indians he had taken toys and beads and knives and 
cloth to barter for whatever valuables they might possess. 

Misdeeds of the sailors. But the fate of this expedition 
was to be no better than the first. Raleigh had furnished 
one ship, the stoutest and largest of all, and after a sail of 
two days it slipped away and went back. It was reported 
that there was sickness on board. In the fog two vessels 
became separated from the others, but they all met at 
Newfoundland. On one of these, the Swallow, the crew 
were in high glee, tossing up their hats and caps, and not 
minding in the least if these fell overboard. It seemed that 




ENGLISH SOLDIER OF 1603 



ENGLISH VOYAGES WESTWARD 241 

they had met with a vessel returning home from the fishing 
grounds, and their captain had allowed them to go on board 
to buy food ; but these rascals had done no purchasing, they 
had seized food, clothes, tackle, and whatever else they 
chose, and hats and caps were plentiful. 

The welcome of the fish merchants. The "General," as 
he was called, anchored in the harbor of St. John's. Many 
vessels were there, but all their owners wanted was codfish, 
and they had not the least objection to his taking the land 
for the crown of England. Indeed, they gave a fine salute 
in token of welcome, and presented the colonists with wine, 
biscuit, marmalade, and other delicacies. Sir Humphrey 
took possession by reading aloud his commission, and then, 
in the old English fashion, cutting a twig and a piece of 
turf in token of ownership. He divided his men so that one 
company should gather in food ; another should care for the 
ships; and a third should explore the country. It was all 
well planned, but most of the men were of poor quality and 
utterly lawless. Some deserted, many stole, many ran away 
and induced the captain of some vessel to carry them back 
to England. 

Death of Sir Humphrey Gilbert. Sir Humphrey was eager 
to explore the coast, but one ship went down with many 
men and most of the food, another had been left to carry 
the sick folk home; and there was nothing for him to do 
but to start for England. Two ships remained. Sir Hum- 
phrey insisted upon going in the Squirrel, a tiny vessel of 
only ten tons, and overloaded. His mind was bent upon 
returning in the spring, but this proved to be his last voy- 
age. The two vessels kept as near together as possible, and 
often the sailors could speak from one to the other. A 
storm came upon them, but one afternoon it quieted down, 
though the waves were still high. The sailors on the Squirrel 
were rejoicing, the General sitting in the stern with a book 



242 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



in his hand. As the other vessel came nearer, he called out 
the old saying, familiar to all sailors of the time, "We are 
as near to heaven by sea as by land." At midnight of that 
day, the light of the Squirrel suddenly went out. "The 
General is lost!" cried the watch, and in that moment the 
little vessel was swallowed up by the sea. All the way 
home, a close watch was kept, and on meeting even the 
tiniest sailboat the watchwords were given in the hope that 
he might be aboard ; but nothing more was ever known of 
the little boat or of the gallant Sir Humphrey Gilbert. 

Raleigh visits America. Sir Walter Raleigh (ra/li), had 
been most desirous of joining in this second attempt of his 
brother to found a colony, but the 
queen refused to lose him from her 
court. Raleigh still dreamed of America, 
and after the death of Gilbert, he ob- 
tained the queen's permission to "dis- 
cover barbarous countries, not actually 
possessed of any Christian prince and 
inhabited by Christian people, to oc- 
cupy and enjoy the same for ever." 
One month later he sent out two cap- 
tains to visit the place which he pro- 
posed for a settlement. They landed 
on Roanoke Island, in North Carolina, 
near the mouth of Al'be-marle Sound. 
The accounts that they brought home 
were golden. Grapes grew down to the very edge of the 
water; cedar trees were the reddest and tallest in the world; 
the soil was fertility itself; and they were sure they had 
found cinnamon trees. The Indians they described as "very 
handsome and goodly people in their behavior, as mannerly 
and civil as any of Europe." The brother of the Indian 
king was covetous of a tin dish and armor and a sword, 




A VIRGINIA INDIAN 
(From John Smith's Map) 



ENGLISH VOYAGES WESTWARD 



243 




and had offered a great box of pearls for them; but the 
tricky captains had refused the exchange, because they did 
not want the red men to know that they cared especially 
for pearls until they had learned where they could be 
gathered. 

Raleigh's colony on Roanoke Island. The queen was so 
pleased with this addition to her realm that the name of 
Virginia was given to it, 
because it had been discov- 
ered under a virgin queen. 
This virgin queen would 
not hear to Sir Walter's 
sailing with the colonists, 
so he made his cousin, Sir 
Richard Grenville, com- 
mander. They sailed by 
the Canaries and the West 
Indies to the main land 
of Florida. They were nearly wrecked on a cape, which 
because of this they named Cape Fear, but at length they 
went safely through O'cra-coke Inlet into Pamlico Sound, 
and then north to Roanoke Island. Here Grenville landed 
the colonists, and set out on his return. 

Grenville captures a Spanish vessel. Of course Grenville 
was on the lookout for a chance to capture a Spanish vessel, 
and in six days he fell in with one. It was more than twice 
as long as his own, but that did not matter. He had no 
proper ship's boat, but that did not matter, for he soon had 
one built. It was made of the sides of provision boxes, and 
it was all the men could do to keep it afloat till they came 
alongside the Spanish vessel. Then it promptly sank to the 
bottom; but that did not matter either, for the Spaniards 
surrendered just as promptly, and their valuable cargo 
made a splendid prize to carry back to England. 



THE JAMES RIVER COLONY 



244 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



The colonists return to England. As for the colonists, 
they were never weary of praising the new country — till 
their food began to give out and no gold was found. There 
was trouble with the Indians, and Grenville did not appear 
with the promised provisions. Suddenly a fleet, too numer- 
ous to be his, came into sight. There were some badly 
frightened colonists on Roanoke Island 
that day; but this proved to be only a 
friendly call from Sir Francis Drake, on 
his way home with the rich plunder of 
San Domingo. He offered to give them 
food and a ship ; but they begged him to 
carry them home, and he sailed away with 
the whole company on board. They took 
with them potatoes and Indian corn, 
which were then first introduced into 
England. They also took tobacco, and, 
as one of the old writers says, "Never 
since that day has the air of England been 
free from its smoke." A few days later 
a well-laden ship appeared, sent by Raleigh, and in a fort- 
night Grenville came with three ships; but it was too late. 
Raleigh's second colony is made up of families. Raleigh 
was not discouraged, but before sending out a second colony, 
he did some thinking. He had been convinced before this 
that not discovering gold mines, but founding colonies for 
agriculture and commerce was the way to increase the 
wealth of England and to provide a place where people 
could have a chance to better themselves. He now made 
up his mind that the only way to make a colony permanent 
and establish a "second England" on the western side of 
the ocean was to send families rather than men alone. This 
he did. He provided everything that would be needed for 
cultivating the ground, and the families set off with one 




A GENTLEMAN OF 1610 



ENGLISH VOYAGES WESTWARD 



245 



John White as governor. They reached Roanoke Island 
in safety, but it was not a pleasant reception to find the 
fort and houses in ruins and the bones of the fifteen men 
whom Grenville had left in charge, scattered over the field 

White is sent back to England. The colonists were fearful 
of what might happen to their little group alone on the 
edge of a continent, and they insisted 
that White should return for supplies 
and more immigrants. He went most 
unwillingly, especially as he had a new 
little granddaughter to leave to the dan- 
gers of the wilderness. This was Virginia 
Dare, the first child of English parents 
born in America. 

The last colonists. When White got 
to England, he found the whole coun- 
try with but one thought, how to resist 
the Armada. Raleigh sent out two ves- 
sels to aid the colonists, but the temp- 
tation to try to capture Spanish ships 
was too strong, and they never reached 
Virginia. After the Armada had been overcome, Raleigh 
was no longer able to do more himself, but he formed a 
company, and at length White returned to America. He 
searched in vain for the colonists. Then he stood a little 
off shore and fired guns and sounded trumpets and sang 
familiar old English songs; but all was silence. Iron bars 
and balls for small artillery were found, overgrown with 
weeds ; and in a trench were some chests broken open, and 
the books and pictures and maps which he had left, all torn 
and spoiled with rain. Into the bark of a tree on the edge 
of the cliff were cut the letters CRO, and high up on a 
ppst of the remains of the fort was the whole word CRO- 
ATOAN. This was the name of an island where a friendly 




A VIRGINIA PLANTER 



246 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



chief lived. White had agreed with the colonists that if 
they should decide to go elsewhere, the name of the place 
should be cut on the trees, and if they were in trouble, a 
cross should be cut above it. There was no cross. White 
and his men set out for Croatoan, but storms arose and 
they had to return to England. The fate of the colonists 
was never known. 

Raleigh's belief in the future of America. Thus ended 
Raleigh's two attempts to found colonies. In one way they 
were a failure; in another, they were a noble success; for 
Sir Walter Raleigh's firm and far-seeing belief that the way 
to hold a country and enrich the motherland was not to 
search for gold, but to establish homes, was a new idea, 







JAMESTOWN IN 1622 
(From an early Dutch account of Virginia) 

and it became an inspiration to many colonies that were 
settled in later years. He was convinced that America 
would some day become the abode of a second English 
nation. Americans should never forget Sir Walter Raleigh, 
for he was one of the first men in the world to realize the 
wonderful future that lay before our country. 

The founding of Jamestown. In less than twenty years 
after Raleigh's colonists sailed back to England, the Eng- 
lish founded at Jamestown in Virginia a settlement which 



ENGLISH VOYAGES WESTWARD 247 

became permanent. Many settlements have been estab- 
lished since then, but those that have been most successful 
have been founded upon Raleigh's belief that a colony 
must be made up of homes, and that it is not gold but 
honest work that makes a colony and a nation rich and 
powerful. 

Fifteenth century ideas of the world. Tracing the history 
of our country from the beginnings of discovery, we find 
that in the fifteenth century people in general believed the 
earth to be flat, but that most learned men thought it to be 
round, although much smaller than it is. They thought also 
that south of the equator there was a great mass of land 
called by the earlier geographers the "Fourth Part." Some 
thought this was not connected with Asia and Africa, but 
Ptolemy believed it was, and that the Indian Ocean was 
surrounded by land. How far this land extended, he could 
not guess. 

The race for India. Between Spain and Portugal there was 
a race to find a water route to India, because each country 
was eager for the Indian trade. Prince Henry the Naviga- 
tor (Portugal) sailed down the west coast of Africa to the 
Gambia River; thus proving that Africa extended farther 
south than had been thought. Dias (Portugal) doubled the 
Cape of Good Hope; thus showing that India could prob- 
ably be reached by sailing around Africa. Da Gama (Por- 
tugal) rounded Africa, and so reached India; thus prov- 
ing that the Indian Ocean was not surrounded by land, as 
Ptolemy had thought probable. By these voyages, Portugal 
had won the race in being the first to find a water route to 
India; but meanwhile, Columbus, in 1492, sailed west and 
reached the West Indies, and in later voyages saw the 
northern coast of South America and explored the coast of 
Honduras. John and Sebastian Cabot (England) reached 
Labrador in 1497, and thus were the first to reach the main 



248 



OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 



land. Just before the last voyage of Columbus, Vespucius 
(Portugal) reached the coast of Brazil. 

Increased activity of Spain. At the end of the fifteenth 
century, discoveries had been made in America by Spain, 
Portugal, and England; but Spain now became far more 
active than the other countries. Balboa (Spain) crossed 
Darien and discovered the Pacific Ocean, 
and a few years later Magellan (Spain) 
sailed through the Strait of Magellan 
and rounded Cape Horn, thus making 
it certain that South America did not 
belong to Asia, but was a separate con- 
tinent. 

Spain explores the interior of the 
New World. Much inland exploring was 
also done by Spain. Cortez conquered 
Mexico ; and Pizarro conquered Peru. De 
Soto explored from Tampa Bay west- 
ward and discovered the Mississippi 
River. Coronado explored the south- 
western part of what is now the United 
States, and also Lower California and 
the Gulf of California. The French be- 
gan to awake to the value of the New 
World, and Cartier sailed up the St. Lawrence River as 
far as the present site of Montreal. 

How the present boundaries of the United States were 
drawn. The four countries, Spain, Portugal, England, and 
France, had all made discoveries and explorations. Each 
had claims in America. Portugal claimed Brazil ; except for 
Brazil, Spain claimed the whole double continent. England 
claimed from Labrador and Newfoundland west and south 
indefinitely ; and France claimed the St. Lawrence River and 
valley. No one knew how far the country extended, and of 




SOUTH AMERICAN 

INDIAN, 1497 

(From the earliest picture) 



ENGLISH VOYAGES WESTWARD 



249 



course the various claims overlapped. It is no wonder that 
there was trouble about ownership as land in America and 
commerce with America became more and more valuable, 
and that the rivalry to found colonies and establish claims 
became as eager as that to make discoveries had been. It is 
no wonder that, as countries in Europe became stronger or 
weaker, so their colonies in America changed hands; until 



v/ 




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rekin./H< A 



pan Pranciaco 

P A C I F I C 










ISLANDS 



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■•••tlttuila . 




THE UNITED STATES AND ITS POSSESSIONS 
(Shown by shading and names in heavy type) 



by victory, by purchase, and by conquest, the present 
boundaries of the United States have been drawn. 

What we owe to other ages and other lands. Tracing the 
history of our country still further back to its beginnings 
on the other side of the ocean, we can see that not only 
many of our inventions and customs, but our ways of look- 
ing at things, even our very thoughts, came from distant 
ages and distant lands. But the deeds and qualities of our 
ancestors are ours only in so far as we choose to make them 
our own. This, then, is why we read history, namely, in 



250 OUR EUROPEAN ANCESTORS 

order to find out what nations who lived before us have 
done, and so learn from them ; that we may do our best for 
our own nation, that we may, as Pericles said more than 
thirteen centuries ago, "leave the state to those who will 
follow us in as good condition as we received it." 

STUDY SUGGESTIONS 

1. Do you remember any acts of Sir Walter Raleigh that showed his 
presence of mind and quickness of thought? 

2. What kind of men were those on the Swallow? 

3. Can you think of any reason why a rod and a piece of turf should 
indicate ownership? 

4. If you had been Sir Humphrey, should you in setting out have done 
differently in any respect? In what one point was he perhaps some- 
what careless? 

5. Why did this expedition fail? 

6. Can you tell how Raleigh's men treated the Indians? 

7. Tell the story of Roanoke Island as a boy of the colony might have 
done. 

8. Do you see any qualities in Raleigh that should make Queen Elizabeth 
wish to keep him at her court? 

9. What thoughts were in Captain White's mind when he drew near to 
Roanoke Island on his return voyage? 

10. Can you prove that Raleigh was a level-headed man? 

11. Of all the men whom you have read about in this book, which one 
should you rather resemble? 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

5ir Humphrey Gilbert tells Sir Walter Raleigh of his preparations for 

making a settlement in America. 
A sailor describes the loss of Sir Humphrey. 
Raleigh tells Queen Elizabeth about Virginia. 
Raleigh plans his second colony. 
What became of Virginia Dare? 
White describes his search for the lost colony. 



INDEX 



Abyssinia, 151. 

Acre, the capture of, 137. 

Acropolis, beautified by Pericles, 
20-22; 28, 43. 

Aden, 142. 

Adriatic Sea, Greek colonies on the 
shores of the, 33; 138. 

/Eneas, flees from Troy to Latium, 39. 

Africa, 4, 35; northern, ruled by 
Rome, 48, 56; Alaric plans to en- 
ter, 75; 147, 152, 153, 156, 157, 158, 
160, 177, 178, 179; negroes brought 
from, 190; 247. 

Aix-la-Chapelle, church of Charle- 
magne at, 78. 

Alabama River, visited by De Soto, 
192. 

Alaric, extorts ransom from Rome, 
74; plunders Rome, 74-75; death of, 

75- 

Albemarle Sound, 242. 

Alesia, taken by Caesar, 51. 

Alexander the Great, founds Alexan- 
dria, 16; conquests of, Asiatic cam- 
paigns of, 34-35. 51- 

Alexandria, founded by Alexander the 
Great, 16; 35, 38, 77, 142. 

Alexandrian Library, 35. 

Alfred the Great, becomes king, with- 
draws to the forest, makes peace 
with the Danes, 88-89; restores his 
land, translates books, repulses the 
Danes, 89-93. 

Alhambra, built by the Moors, 78. 

Alps (mountains), crossed by Hanni- 
bal, 46. 

Alva, Duke of, becomes governor of 
the Netherlands, 219; 225. 

Amazon River, discovered by Ves- 
pucius, 176. 



America, 4, 31 ; representative govern- 
ment brought to, 108; visits of the 
Northmen to, 147-149; 152; named 
from Americus Vespucius, 177; 198, 
209, 210, 237; Raleigh interested 
in, 242; first English child born in, 
245; Raleigh's belief in, 246; 248, 
249. 

Americans, 3. 

Angle-land, 83. 

Angles, 67; land in Britain, 81; 82. 

Anglo-Saxons, 83. 

Antioch, 142. 

Apalachee Bay, visited by De Soto, 
192. 

Apennines, 37, 38. 

Apollo, advises settlement of Con- 
stantinople, 17. 

Arabia, 179. 

Arabian Nights, 134. 

Arabs, learning of the, 140-142. 

Aragon, 78, 161, 162. 

Arctic (Ocean), 221. 

Ariovistus, routed by Caesar, 52; 
forced back across the Rhine, 67. 

Arkansas, visited by De Soto, 193. 

Armada, the Invincible, planned by 
Philip, 229-230; sails for England, 
232; enters the English Channel, 
234; anchors off Calais, 235; over- 
powered by English fleet, 235-236; 
237. 239, 245. 

Armenia, ruled by Rome, 56. 

Arthur, King, fights the Saxons, 81-82 ; 
160. 

Arthur, Prince, disappears, 99. 

Ascanius, becomes ruler of Latium, 

39- 
Ashdown, the battle of, 87. 
Ashdown Hill, 87. 



252 



INDEX 



Asia, Columbus plans voyage to, 157; 

162, 168, 170, 177, 180, 247, 248. 
Asia Minor, 12, 33; ruled by Rome, 

48-56. 
Asser, aids Alfred the Great, 91. 
Assyria, ruled by Rome, 56. 
Athene, gives the olive to Athens, 17; 

statues of, on the Acropolis, 20-21, 

22. 
Athenians, victors at Marathon, 17; 

beautify Athens, 19-22; misled by 

Cleon, 29; 31. 
Athens, the founding of, 17-18; the 

beautifying of, 19-22; unlike Sparta, 

25; how children were brought up 

in, 26; Pericles speaks in, 29; 30; 

entered by Alaric, 74. 
Atlantic Ocean, 35; not the "Sea of 

Darkness," 152; supposed extent 

of the, 158; terrors of the, 163. 
Atlas, 15. 
Augustus, Roman Empire in the time 

of, 56; peace in the time of, 61; 

treats the provincials fairly, 62. 
Austria, part of, ruled by Rome, 48. 
Austria, Duke of, 137. See Leopold. 
Azores, visited by Prince Henry's 

ships, 152; Drake at the, 231. 
Aztecs, visited by Cortez, 186; rise 

against the Spaniards, 188-189. 

Babylon, alphabet of, 7. 

Bahamas, 167. 

Baie des Chaleurs, 184. 

Balboa, discovers the Pacific Ocean, 

180-181, 190, 248. 
Baltic Sea, 85. 
Bayard, Chevalier, exploits and death 

of, 210-211. 
Becket, Thomas a, 132. 
Bede, 92. 

"Beggars," 218-219. 
Belgium, ruled by Charles V, 217; 

Catholics in, persecuted by Alva, 

219. 
Bible, 203. 
Black Death, 118. 
Black Sea, the Greeks on the, 32, 33; 

142; the Dutch on the, 216. 



"Block books," 6. 

Blondel, finds King Richard, 137-139. 

Boniface, fells the Oak of Thor, 71. 

Bosphorus, the Strait of, 16-17, 156. 

Brazil, discovered by Portugal, 176, 
178; reached by Vespucius, 248. 

Brescia, Chevalier Bayard wounded 
at, 210. 

Britain, partly subdued by Caesar, 
52-54; under rule of Rome, 56; re- 
call of Romans from, 75; 79; at- 
tacked by savage tribes, 81 ; be. 
comes England, 82-83; 9 2 - 

Britannia, early name of England, 4. 

British Isles, 4; Armada attempts to 
sail around the, 236-237. 

British Museum, 103. 

Britons, early name of the English, 4; 
described by Caesar, 54; in fear of 
savage tribes, 81; were Christians, 
83; 125. 

Bruges, 120. 

Brunhild, 72. 

Bucephalus, horse of Alexander the 
Great, 35. 

Burgundy, 209. 

Buzzards Bay, 148. 

Byron, quotation from, 18. 

Byzantium, 16, 65. See Constanti. 
nople. 

Cabot, John and Sebastian, voyages 

of, 173-174; 239; reach Labrador, 

247. 
Cadiz, Drake destroys the Spanish 

ships at, 230-231. 
Caesar, Julius, subdues the Gauls, 51; 

subdues the Germans, partially 

subdues Britain, 52-54; becomes 

emperor of Rome, 55-56. 
Caesar, title of the Roman emperor, 

62. 
Cairo, 142. 
Calais, 229; Armada anchors off, 234; 

235- 
Calicut, visited by Da Gama, 179. 
California, Gulf of, entered by Coro- 

nado, 195. 
Calvin, John, Protestant leader, 203. 



INDEX 



253 



Canary Islands, visited by Prince 
Henry's ships, 152; Columbus stops 
at the, 164; 243. 

Cannae, Carthaginian victory at, 47. 

Canterbury Cathedral, 100, 125; 
Saint Augustine, archbishop of, 85. 

Canterbury pilgrims, 132-133. 

Canterbury Tales, 133. 

Cape Breton, 174. 

Cape Fear, 243. 

Cape of Good Hope, doubled by Da 
Gama, 178; by Dias, 153; named by 
the king of Portugal, 154. 

Cape Horn, 176; rounded by Ma- 
gellan, 248. 

Capricorn, Tropic of, 153. 

Carcassonne, 1 19. 

Carlisle, at San Domingo and Carta- 
gena, 228. 

Cartagena, captured by Drake, 228. 

Carthage, wars of, with Rome, 44-48; 
51, 61. 

Carthaginians, 47; helped by the 
Gauls, 51. 

Cartier, Jacques, sails in search of the 
Northwest Passage, 183; enters the 
Gulf of St. Lawrence, 183; visits 
the site of Quebec and Montreal, 
184; 209, 248. 

Castile, 78, 161, 162. 

Catacombs, meeting-place of the 
Christians, 64. 

Cathay (China), 167. 

Catholic Church, Philip II plans to 
restore England and Holland to the, 
229. 

Catholics, 203, 210, 211; persecuted in 
Holland by Alva, 219; of England, 
the loyalty of the, 232. 

Caudine Forks, Romans pass under 
the yoke at the, 43-44. 

Central America, 170. 

Ceylon, 151. 

Chalcedon, "the city of the blind," 17. 

Charlemagne, as a ruler, 77-78; divi- 
sion of his kingdom, 78; 91 ; watches 
the Northmen, 95; 96, 209. 

Charles V, the wide rule of, 209; 210; 
as king of the Netherlands, 217. 



Charles IX, 211. 

Chaucer, 133. 

Chester, 119. 

"Child of the Sun," 194. 

China, 149, 151, 158, 167, 168. 

Chinese writing, 7. 

Christianity, Saxons ignorant of, 83. 

Christians, persecuted, 62-64; Britons 
as, 83; in Jerusalem, 134. 

Church, King John asks for the par- 
don of the, 100; French clergy in 
the, 104; knight's promise to defend 
the, 113; stands by the villeins, 117; 
increases in power, 127; 133; Indians 
taught the rules of the, 195-196. 

Church, Catholic, feeling against the, 
202-203; Charles V tries to restore 
the Dutch to the, 217. 

Cid, the, 160. 

Cimon, beautifies Athens, 19; 20. 

Cincinnati, Society of the, 43. 

Cincinnatus, saves Rome, 43. 

Cipango (Japan), 167. 

Cleon, oratorical skill of, 29. 

Clermont, crusade preached at, 134. 

Clovis, and the vase of Soissons, 76- 

77- 

Cluny, the convents of, 128. 

Coligny, founds a colony in America, 
211; 237. 

Coliseum, 56. 

Cologne, cathedral at, 125. 

Colorado River, explored by Coro- 
nado, 195. 

Columbia, 177. 

Columbus, influenced by Ptolemy, 
35; early life of, 156-157; ponders 
over a voyage to Asia, 157-158; 
appeals to Portugal and to Spain, 
158-160; at La Rabida, 160-161; 
starts for France, 161; Queen Isa- 
bella promises help, 161-163; the 
first voyage of, 163-165; the land- 
ing of, 166-168; return of, 168-169; 
later voyages of , 169-171; 180, 196; 
results of the voyages of, 247; 248. 

Constantine the Great, becomes a 
Christian, builds Constantinople, 
65. 



254 



INDEX 



Constantinople, founded by the 
Greeks, 16-17; built and named by 
Constantine, 65; 140; captured by 
the Turks, 147; visited by the Polos, 
149; Genoa's treaty with, 156. 

Coriolanus, and the Volscians, 41-42; 
yields to his mother's prayers, 42. 

Coronado, Francisco, searches for the 
seven cities, 194; searches for 
Quivira, 195; explores the south- 
west, 248. 

Cortez, attempts to conquer Mexico, 
186-189; succeeds in the second 
trial, 189; arouses the jealousy of 
Spain, 189; 248. 

Craftsmen and their gilds, 120. 

Croatoan, 245-246. 

Crusades, 117, 135-137; value of the, 

I39-H5- 
Cuba, 168, 186, 190, 191; visited by 

Drake, 228. 
Cyprus (island), 33. 
Cyrene, 33. 

Da Gama, sent out by Portugal, 178; 
doubles Cape Horn, and reaches 
India, 179, 180; rounds Africa, 247. 

Danelagh (Dane-law), 89. 

Danes, the coming of the, 85-86; try 
to conquer England, 87-88; make a 
treaty, 89; rule in England, 95, 96. 

Danube (river), 56, 67, 72, 73, 144. 

Dare, Virginia, 245. 

Darien, Isthmus of, visited by Bal- 
boa, 180, 248. 

Declaration of Independence, 224. 

De Soto, explores southwestern 
United States, discovers the Mis- 
sissippi River, and dies on its 
banks, 191-194, 248. 

Devonshire, the Britons driven into, 
82. 

Dias, Bartholomew, rounds Africa, 
153. 247; 178- 

Diaz, Rodrigo (the Cid), 160. 

Diego, son of Columbus, goes to 
Spain, 160; sets off for France, 161. 

Discoverer of the North Cape, 92. 

Drake, Sir Francis, on a coasting 



vessel, 204; revenges himself on 
Spain, 204-205; captures the Spit- 
fire, 205-206; lands on the Cali- 
fornia coast, 206-207; sails around 
the world, 207; comes to Florida, 
21 1-2 12; in the harbor ol Vigo, 226; 
in the West Indies, 228; "singes the 
king of Spain's beard," 230-231; 
at the Azores, 23 1 ; becomes vice- 
admiral, 232; and the game of 
bowls, 233; feared by the Span- 
iards, 235; 239; calls at Roanoke 
Island, 244. 

Druids, teachings of the, 54. 

Dutch, 215; as traders and explorers, 
216-217; independence of the, 217; 
flee to England, 219; pierce their 
dykes, 220; appeal to England, 224; 
helped by the English people, 225; 
English army sent to aid the, 227; 
interfere with the plans of the Duke 
of Parma, 235. 

East Anglia, given to the Danes, 89. 

East Indies, Dutch trade with the, 
216. 

Edward I, stands by a representative 
government, 107-108. 

Egbert, becomes overlord, 85. 

Egypt, Greek colony in, 33; Alexander 
the Great in, 35; ruled by Rome, 
56; 144- 

Egyptian writing, 7, 8. 

Elbe (river), 81. 

Elizabeth, Queen, character of, 199; 
scholarship of, 199-200; suitors of, 
200; contradictions of, 200; Drake 
appeals to, 205; refuses to give him 
up, 207; welcomes the Dutch, 219; 
becomes protector of the Dutch 
states, 225-226; 227; Philip's plan 
to seize the throne of, 229; the 
thrift of, 233; visits the camp, 235- 
236; suggests the use of fireships, 
236. 

Elizabethan homes, 201-202. 

England, immigrants came from, 3; 
visited by the Romans, 4; Roman 
remains in, 76; 79; takes name 



INDEX 



255 



from the Angles, 83; partially 
united under Egbert, 85; 86, 87, 88, 
89; Danes rule in, 95; conquered by 
William the Norman, 96-98; 99, 
103, 104, 106, 119, 136, 140, 144, 
147; Columbus's brother sent to, 
160; 173, 174; growing stronger, 
200; hatred of Spain in, 202; 203; 
206; western coast of the United 
States claimed for, 207; the Dutch 
appeal to, 224; 225, 226, 228; Philip 
plans an attack upon, 229-230; 
2 3 2 . 2 33; stronger because of the 
Armada, 237; talks of the New 
World, 239; Newfoundland claimed 
for, 241, 245; John White returns 
to, 246; discoveries in America 
made by, 248. 

English, the, formerly called Britons, 
4; attacked by the Danes, 85-86; 
under William the Conqueror, 96- 
98; struggle with Henry III, 105- 
107; 118. 

English alphabet, 8. 

English language, Alfred the Great 
translates Latin books into, 92; 
affected by the coming of the Nor- 
mans, 98. 

English Channel, crossed by the 
Dutch, 219; 225; the Armada sails 
into the, 229; enters the, 234; 
237- 

"English Valhalla," the, 70. 

Erechtheum, 21. 

Etruscans, 38; aid Tarquin, 41. 

Europe, immigrants came from, 3; 
78, 83, 136, 140, 142, 177, 216, 217, 
242, 243, 244, 249. 

Eurystheus, enemy of Hercules, 15. 

Euxine (sea), 32. 

Fairs, 122-123. 

"Father Adam's will," 178. 

Ferdinand, 78, 160, 162, 165, 168, 170, 

173- 

Feudal system, influence of the cru- 
sades upon the, 144-145. 

Flanders, 144. 

Florence, 175. 



Florida, 191, 211, 243. 

Fort Caroline, built by the Hugue- 
nots, 211; destroyed by Menendez, 
213. 

"Fourth Part," 176, 247. 

France, immigrants came from, 3; 
overcome by the Romans, 51; 
formation of, 78-79; Rollo in, 96; 
104, 119, 128, 134, 140; Columbus 
starts for, 161; 162, 178; becomes 
interested in the New World, 183; 
202, 203, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 
224, 232. 

Francis I, king of France, 209, 210. 

Franks, capture Soissons, 76; ances- 
tors of the, 77; 78; watch the Dan- 
ish boats, 95. 

Frederick Barbarossa, 136. 

French, formerly called Gauls, 3-4; 
51; Normans become, 96; 118; begin 
to see the value of the New World, 
248. 

French language, effect of, upon 
English, 98. 

Frobisher, Martin, and the game of 
bowls, 233. 

Gambia (river), passed by Prince 
Henry's ships, 152; 247. 

Gaul, overcome by the Romans, 51- 
52; Caesar writes about, 54; Rollo 
in, 84; 96. 

Gauls, early name of the French, 4; 
founders of Marseilles, 16; allies of 
Hannibal, 47; burn Rome, are sub- 
dued by Caesar, 51; ask Ariovistus 
for help, 52; become Roman citizens, 
55 ; learn Roman ways, are attacked 
by the Germans, 67; Clovis plans 
to conquer, 76; Roman cities of, de- 
stroyed by the Franks, 77; 78. 

Genoa, 142, 144, 150, 151; the com- 
merce of, 156; Columbus appeals 
to, 158; 216. 

Germans, driven across the Rhine, 52; 
enter the Roman boundaries, 67; 
description of the, 68-69; govern- 
ment of the, 69; gods of the, 69-70; 
71, 76; invited to England, 82. 



256 



INDEX 



Germany, formation of, 78; 79, 104, 
119, 138, 140, 202, 203, 209. 

Gibraltar, Straits of, 144. 

Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, twice at- 
tempts to plant a colony in New- 
foundland, 239-241; death of, 241- 
242. 

Gilds, 120-121. 

Glaukon, 30-31. 

Golden Age of Latin Literature, 56, 
61. 

Golden Fleece, story of the, 14-15. 

Golden Hind, ship of Sir Francis 
Drake, 205; crosses the Pacific, fate 
of the, 207. 

Golden Horn, name given to Con- 
stantinople, 16. 

Gospel, welcomed, 62; preached in 
England, 84-85. 

Gothic architecture and decorations, 
125-127. 

Goths, enter the Roman Empire, 72- 
74; sack Rome, 75; in Spain, 78. 

"Great Greece," 33. 

Greece, geography and products of, 
10-11; myths of, 13-17; 19, 20, 23, 
25. 31. 33. 34, 37, 38; conquered 
by the Romans, 48; Alaric plans to 
attack, 74. 

Greek alphabet, 8. 

Greek children, plays of the, 27. 

Greek "city," 28. 

Greek colonies, 32-34. 

Greek communities, 12-13. 

Greek customs, how spread, 31-35, 51. 

Greek language, Roman fashion to 
learn, 48; 98. 

Greeks, lived about the Mediter- 
ranean Sea, 4; desire of the, to sail 
away, 12; bonds of union among 
the, and gods of the, 13; capture 
Troy, 15-16; cities founded by the, 
16-17; at Marathon, 17; at Ther- 
mopylae and Salamis, 18; 27, 28; 
philosophers of the, 30; greatness 
of the, 3 1 ; on the Black Sea, 32:35; 
value of the history of the, 35; 38, 
41, 43; learning of the, 48; as lovers 
of beauty, 49; 55; lessons from the, 



65; forgot bravery of ancestors, 74; 

79, no, 145, 147. 
Greenland, 148; 178. 
Grenville, Sir Richard, leads Raleigh's 

colony, 243; captures a Spanish 

ship, 243; 244, 245. 
"Groups of neighbors," 13. 
Guinea, 157. 
Gulf of California, explored by Coro- 

nado, 248. 

Hagen, 72. 

Hannibal, the march of, from Spain 
to Italy, 45-46; exploits of, 47. 

Haroun al Raschid, 134. 

Hastings, battle of, William victori- 
ous in the, 96, 97. 

Hawkins, Sir John, the vessel of, at- 
tacked at Vera Cruz, 204-205; 
comes to Florida, 211-212; and the 
game of bowls, 233; 239. 

Hawthorne, writes of Odysseus, 16; 
the Wonder-Book of, 23. 

Hayti, 168; called Hispaniola, 170. 

Hellenes, early name of the Greeks, 4. 

Hengist, 81; 84. 

Henry III, extravagance of, 104-106; 
struggle with the barons, 106-108. 

Henry VII, 160, 173, 174. 

Henry, Prince, the Navigator, explo- 
rations of, 151-153; 156, 157, I5 8 , 
247. 

Hercules, the story of, 15. 

Hesperides, Garden of the, 15. 

Hindustan, visited by Da Gama, 179. 

Hispaniola (Hayti), 170. 

Holland, 202, 203; the making of, 215; 
ruled by Charles V, 217; Protes- 
tants in, persecuted by Alva, 219; 
224; Philip II plans to restore to 
the Catholic Church, 229; 232; 237. 

Holy City, 137. 

Holy Land, 98, 117, 134, 135, 136. 

"Holy Roman Empire," 209. 

Holy Sepulchre, 133. 

"Homage," 112. 

Homer, 15, 16. 

Honduras, coast of, explored by Co- 
lumbus, 247. 



INDEX 



257 



Horatius, keeps the bridge, 40-41; 49, 
210. 

Horsa, 81. 

House of Commons and House of 
Lords formed, 107. 

Howard, Admiral, and the game of 
bowls, 233. 

Hudson, Henry, discovered the Hud- 
son River, 217. 

Huguenots, 211. 

Huns, came upon the Goths, 72, 73. 

Idylls of the King, 82. 

Iliad, 26, studied by Roman boys, 60. 

Immigrants to this country, 1-3; 
knowledge of the, 6-8; early 
brought representative government 
to America, 108. 

Immigration, limitations of, 3. 

Inca, of Peru, captured by Pizarro 
and slain, 190. 

India, Alexander the Great in, 35; 
short route to, desired, 147; 151, 152, 
154; 158, 167, 171, 174, 175, 176, 
177; reached by Da Gama, 179, 180; 
race for a water route to, 247-248. 

Indian Ocean, 167, 178, 247. 

Indians, America the original home 
of, 2, 170; Las Casas tries to save, 
190; Balboa's kindness to, re- 
warded, 180; made slaves of, 190; 
abused by De Soto, 1 91-192; re- 
venge of the, 192; of Spanish mis- 
sions, 194-195. 

Indies, 162, 168, 173, 178. 

Inquisition, Philip II plans its intro- 
duction into Holland, 218. 

Ireland, St. Patrick preached in, 83; 
Prince John sent to, 99; 240. 

Isabella, Queen, 78, 160, 161; prom- 
ises to help Columbus, 162; 165, 
168, 170, 173. 

Italians, formerly called Romans, 4. 

Italy, home of the Romans, 3; Greek 
colonies in, 33; geography of, 37- 
38; in the power of Rome, 44, 48; 
attacked by Hannibal, 45-47; 52; 
peace in, 61 ; entered by Alaric, 74, 
75; formation of, 78; 144; 158; terri- 



tory in, claimed by France and by 
Spain, 210. 

Jamestown, founded, 246-247. 

Janus, the temple of, 61. 

Japan, 158, 167, 168, 174. 

Japanese writing, 7. 

Jason, hero of the Golden Fleece, 14- 

15- 

Java, 151. 

Jerusalem, 62; the pilgrimage to, 133; 
ruled by the Turks, 134; 136, 137, 
140. 

Jesuits, the Order of, founded by 
Ignatius Loyola, 203. 

Jesus, the birth and crucifixion of, 
61-62; progress of the religion of, 
64-65. 

Jews, 62. 

John, King, revolts against Richard, 
98; in Ireland, 99; career of, 100; 
contest with the Pope, 100; strug- 
gle with the barons, 100-102; signs 
Magna Carta, 102-103; I0 4» x 37; 
tries to keep Richard in prison, 139; 
142. 

"John the Perfect" (John II of Portu- 
gal), deceives Columbus, 158-160. 

Journeyman, 120. 

Judaea, ruled by Rome, 48; 56; the 
home of the Jews, 61. 

Jupiter, 62. 

Justinian, the code of, 59. 

Jutes, the, came to Britain, 81; 82. 

Jutland, 81. 

Kansas, entered by Coronado, 195. 
Kent, held by the Jutes, 82; 84. 
Kriemhild, 72. 
Kublai Khan, 149; 151; 168. 

Labrador, 174, 248. 

Ladrone Islands, visited by Magellan, 
182. 

Langton, Archbishop Stephen, reads 
the law to the barons, 100-102. 

"La Noche Triste," 189. 

La Plata River, explored by Ma- 
gellan, 182; 184. 



258 



INDEX 



La Rabida, Columbus at, 161. 

Las Casas, tries to save the Indians, 

190-191. 
Latin, learned by conquered nations, 
48, 67; 79, 91, 92; studied by Colum- 
bus, 157; addresses to Queen Eliza- 
beth in, 200. 
Latins, 38, 39. 
Latinus, receives /Eneas, 39. 
Latium, 38, 39. 
Lavinia, marries /Eneas, 39. 
Legend Beautiful, 130. 
Leicester, the Earl of, 227. 
Leif Ericsson, visits America, 147-148. 
Leonidas, holds the pass of Thermop- 
ylae, 18. 
Leopold, Duke of Austria, captures 

King Richard, 138. 
Leyden, the siege of, 220-221. 
Lima, 205. 

"Line of Demarcation," 225. 
Lisbon, Columbus in, 157. 
London, the Danes in, 88; 102, 120, 

144; to be attacked by Spain, 229; 

loyalty of, 233. 
Longfellow, extract from, 92; 130. 
"Lord of Ireland," 99. 
Louisiana, visited by De Soto, 193. 
Lower California, discovered by Cor- 

tez, 189; explored by Coronado, 

248. 
Loyola, Ignatius, Catholic leader, 203. 
Luther, Martin, Protestant leader, 203. 
Lutherans, 212; killed by Menendez, 

213. 

Madagascar, 151. 

Madeiras, visited by Prince Henry's 

ships, 152; 157. 
Magellan, sails in the service of Spain, 

181-182; discovers the Strait of 

Magellan, 182; ships of, sail around 

the world, death of, 182-183; Cape 

Horn rounded by, 248. 
Magellan, Strait of, discovered by 

Magellan, 182; passed by Drake, 

205; 248. 
Magna Carta, signed by King John, 

102-103; IO S, 142. 



Magna Graecia, 33. 

Manor, advantages of life on a, 117; 
disappearance of the system, 117- 
120. 

Mantes, death of William the Nor- 
man at, 98. 

Maracaibo, Gulf of, 175. 

Marathon, the battle of, 17-18; the 
runner of, 18; 21. 

Margaret, half-sister of Philip II, 
rules the Netherlands, 218; leaves 
the country, 219. 

Marianne Islands, 182. 

Markets in the Middle Ages, 121-122. 

Mars, father of Romulus and Remus, 
39- 

Marseilles, the founding of, 16; 33. 

Mary, Queen of England, 229. 

Massachusetts, 148. 

Massilia, 33. See Marseilles. 

Matilda, descended from Alfred the 
Great, 98. 

"Meadow of Council," 102. 

Medea, assists Jason, 14. 

Mediterranean Sea, 3, 4, 10; Odysseus 
wanders about the, 16; Greek col- 
onies on the, 33; 38, 51, 56, 140, 
144; used by the Dutch, 216. 

Mela, the map of, 177. 

Melas, 23. 

Melinda, visited by Da Gama, 179. 

Menendez, Pedro, founds St. Augus- 
tine, kills the Lutherans, 212-213; 
228. 

Merchant gilds, 121. 

Mercia, given to the Danes, 89. 

Mesopotamia, ruled by Rome, 56. 

Mexico, conquered by Cortez, 186- 
189, 248; 191, 194. 

Mexico, City of, visited by Cortez, 
187-188. 

Mexico, Gulf of, explored by Cortez, 
189; 205. 

Middle Ages, uncleanliness during the, 
119-120; 125, 132, 147. 

Milton, quotation from, 61. 

Missions, 195-196. 

Mississippi (State), visited by De 
Soto, 192. 



INDEX 



259 



Mississippi River, discovered by De 

Soto, 193, 248; De Soto buried in 

the, 194. 
Mohammed, 78, 134. 
Monasteries, the value of, 131-132. 
Monks, work done by the, 128-131. 
Montezuma, honors the Spaniards, 

186-188; is imprisoned and slain, 

188-189. 
Montreal, the site of, visited by 

Car tier, 184, 248. 
Moors, in Spain, 78; 160. 
"Moot," the, 83. 

Mozambique, visited by Da Gama, 1 79. 
Museum, in Alexandria, 35. 
Myron, the works of, 22-23. 

Naples, 209. 

Natal (Christmas), 179. 

Natchez, 193. 

Naucratis, 33. 

Nero, persecutes the Christians, 63. 

Netherlands, 209, 217, 218; union of 

the seven northern provinces, 223- 

224. 
Netherlanders, 215, 219, 221. 
New Albion, 206. 
Newfoundland, 148, 174; visited by 

Cartier, 183; Sir Humphrey Gilbert 

tries to found colonies in, 239-241; 

248. 
New Mexico, visited by Coronado, 

195; 198. 
New Spain, Mexico so named, 189. 
New World, 4; 180, 183, 186, 202; 

English interest in the, 239; French 

begin to see value in the, 248. 
Nibelungen tale, 71-72. 
Nibelungs, 72, 82. 
Nile (river), 33, 35, 142. 
Nina, 163, 165; returns to Spain, 168- 

169. 
Normandy, settled by the Normans, 

96; independence of, 98; 139. 
Normans, settle in France, 96. 
North America, Spain's claims in, 

Drake on the western coast of, 198; 

206. 
North Cape, 93. 



North Carolina, visited by De Soto, 
192; 242. 

North Sea, 221. 

Northern Ocean, 4. 

Northmen, 85, 86; in Massachusetts, 
148-149. See Danes. 

Northumberland, given to the Danes, 
89. 

Northwest Passage, sought by Car- 
tier, 183; by Drake, 206; 216. 

Nova Scotia, 148. 

Numitor, 39. 

Nuremberg, 119. 

Oak of Thor, 71. 

Ocracoke Inlet, 243. 

Odin, 69-70. See Wotan. 

Odo, imprisoned, 97. 

Odysseus, hero of the Odyssey, 16. 

Odyssey, 16, 26; studied by Roman 

boys, 60. 
Olympic games, 27-28. 
Olympus, Mount, 13. 
Oxford, 119; chair made of Golden 

Hind at, 207. 

Pacific Ocean, discovered by Balboa, 
180-181; so named by Magellan, 
182; coast of, explored by Cortez, 
189; 207. 

Palos, Columbus sails from, 163, 164; 
returns to, 168. 

Pamlico Sound, 243. 

Panama, 170, 190. 

Paris, 120. 

Parliament, 106; two houses of, 
formed, 107-108. 

Parma, Duke of, becomes governor 
of the Netherlands, 223; to com- 
mand the land forces of the Armada, 
229; urges delay of the Armada, 
232; troubled by the Dutch, 235. 

Parthenon, 20-21, 126. 

Peddlers, 122. 

Pelias, uncle of Jason, 14. 

Pericles, beautifies Athens, 19-22; 
29; 250. 

Persia, forces of, routed by the 
Greeks, 17; 34. 



26o 



INDEX 



Persian Gulf, 142. 

Persians, beaten at Marathon and 
Thermopylae and Salamis, 17, 18; 

21, 30, 34- 
Peru, conquered by Pizarro, 180, 248; 

189-190, 191, 205. 
Peter the Hermit, preaches in France, 

134; 135- 
Phidias, the works of, 21-22. 
Philip II, of Spain, suitor of Queen 

Elizabeth, 200; complains of Drake, 

205, 206, 207; 212; treatment of 

the Netherlands, 217-218; sends 

Alva to Holland, 219; 224, 225, 

226; plans the Armada, 229-230; 

insists upon the Armada's sailing, 

231-232; strengthens England, 237. 
Philip of France, 136, 137, 139. 
Philippines, visited by Magellan, 183. 
Pilgrimage, 132-133; information 

spread by, I33~i34- 
Pilgrims, voyage of the, 2. 
Pinta, 164, 165; deserts Columbus, 

168. 
Piracy, of Spain and England, 203. 
Pizarro, conquers Peru, 189-190, 191, 

248. 
Plato, a Greek philosopher, 30. 
Plays acted in Rome, 49. 
Plymouth, 2, 205, 207, 226; the game 

of bowls at, 233; 234; Gilbert blown 

back to, 239. 
Pnyx, 28-29. 
Po (river), 37. 
Polo, Marco, journeys of, 149-151; 

167, 168. 
Polos, the return of the, 150. 
Pompeii, 58. 

Pompeiian house, 58-59. 
Pompey, rivals Caesar, is overpowered 

and slain, 55-56. 
Pontius Pilate, fears to set Jesus free, 

62. 
Pope Gregory, and the English slaves, 

83-84; letter of, to bishops, 92. 
Pope's Line, 177-178, 239. See Line 

of Demarcation. 
Pope Urban II, calls meeting of 

Church at Clermont, 134. 



Portsmouth, Drake returns to, 228. 
Portugal, 151, 152, 153, 157, 158, 161, 

162, 173, 176, 178, 179, 180, 181, 

182, 199; race of, in discovery, 237, 

248. 
Poseidon, gives the horse to Athens, 

17; 21. 
Praxiteles, works of, 23. 
Printing, invented, 147. 
Protestants, 203; punished by Spain, 

210; 211; in Holland persecuted by 

Alva, 219. 
Ptolemy, 35; belief of, in regard to 

Africa, 157-158; 247. 

Quebec, Cartier visits the site of, 184. 
"Queen of Love and Beauty," 115. 
"Quicksilver," 23. 
Quivira, sought by Coronado, 195. 

Raleigh, Sir Walter, and Queen Eliza- 
beth, 201; and the game of bowls 
233; 240; makes a settlement on 
Roanoke Island, 242-244; makes a 
second settlement, 244-245; belief 
of, in America, 246. 

Red River, 293. 

Red Sea, 142. 

Remus, is slain by Romulus, 40. 

Representative government in Eng- 
land, 107-108; brought to America, 
108. 

Revolutionary War, 43. 

Rhea Silvia, 39. 

Rheims, 76, 126. 

Rhine (river), 52, 56, 67, 72, 81, 144, 

215- 

Rhone (river), 33; crossed by Hanni- 
bal, 45-46. 

Richard the Lion-hearted, returns 
from a crusade, 98-99; 136; in 
Syria, 137; found by Blondel, 137- 
139; ransomed by his people, 138, 

139- 
Rio Grande, crossed by Coronado, 

195- 
Roanoke Island, Raleigh makes a 

settlement on, 242-243; 244. 
Robinson Crusoe, 4. 



INDEX 



261 



Rollo, comes to France, 96. 

Roman boys, how taught, 60. 

Romance languages, 78-79. 

Roman customs, used by conquered 
nations, 48. 

Roman Empire, at the death of Au- 
gustus, 56; extent of the, 69; entered 
by the Goths, 73; not ruled by the 
whole people, 83. 

Roman legends, the truth in the, 42. 

Romans, rulers of the world, 3; Ital- 
ians so called, England visited by 
the, 4; 35; drive out Tarquin, 40; 
become strong by union, 43; 44, 45, 
46, 47; complete the conquest of 
Greece, learn from the Greeks, 48- 
49, 51; in Britain, 53-54; manner 
of ruling their conquests, 54, 55, 
67, 68; as builders, 56-57; as mak- 
ers of roads, 57-58; as law-makers, 
59; 63; lessons learned from the, 
65; appealed to by the Goths, 72- 
"jy, overpowered by Alaric, 74-75; 
in Britain, 76; work of, in Gaul, 77; 

79- 

Rome, 22; fabled founding of, 39- 
40; approached by Tarquin's army, 
41; true founding of, 42; is jealous 
of Carthage, 44-45; 47; increasing 
power of, 48; burned by the Gauls, 
51; Gauls famous in, 55; in the 
hands of Caesar, 56; 61, 62, 63, 65; 
Alaric extorts ransom from, 74; 
plunders, 74-75; soldiers recalled 
to protect, 76; 83; 127, 133, 209. 

Romulus, slays Remus, 40. 

Rubicon (river), crossed by Caesar, 56. 

Runnymede, Magna Carta signed at, 
102-103, 104. 

Russia, southern, ruled by Rome, 56. 

Saint Alban, monastery of, 127-128. 
Saint Augustine, preaches in England, 

84-85 ; 125. _ 
Saint Augustine (city) founded by 

Menendez, 213; burned by Drake, 

228. 
Saint Benedict, the rule of, 128. 
Saint George, 114. 



Saint John's, Gilbert arrives at, 241. 
Saint John's River, Coligny's fort on 

the, 211. 
Saint Lawrence, Gulf of, entered by 

Cartier, 183; why so named, 184. 
Saint Lawrence River, explored by 

Cartier, 248. 
Saint Lazarus, appears to the Cid, 

160. 
Saint Michael, 114. 
Saint Patrick, preaches in Ireland, 83. 
Saint Paul, apostle, a Roman citizen, 

56, 62. 
Saint Paul's School, 200. 
Saladin, a knightly opponent, 137. 
Salamis, the Greeks victorious at, 18. 
San Domingo, Drake captures, 228, 

244. 
San Francisco, site of, visited by 

Drake, 206. 
San Salvador, Columbus landed on, 

167. 
Santa Fe founded by Spain, 198. 
Santa Maria, 163; 168. 
Saracens, the learning of the, 140- 

142, 145. 
Sardinia, 209. 
Sargasso Sea, entered by Columbus, 

164. 
Saxons, 67; invited to Britain, 81; 

82; 83; meet the Danes, 87; 88; 

at Runnymede, 102. 
Schleswig, 81. 
"Sea- Beggars," try to carry food to 

Leyden, 220. 
"Sea of Darkness," 152; dangers of 

the, 153; Columbus enters the, 164. 
Seleucia, 142. 
"Seven Cities," sought by Coronado, 

194. 
Siberia, 151. 
Sicily, 33; becomes Greek, 34; 37; 

in the hands of Carthage, 45 ; Alaric 

plans to take, 75; to be ruled by 

an English prince, 106; 209. 
Sidney, Sir Philip, ability and char- 
acter of, Arcadia, 227; death of, 

227-228. 
Siegfried, 71-72. 



262 



INDEX 



Simon de Montfort, and Henry III, 
106-108. 

Snorre, first white child born in 
Massachusetts, 148. 

Socrates, method of argument, death 
of, 30-31- 

Soissons, the vase of, 76-77. 

South America, 170, 175, 176, 198; 
Balboa sails for, 180, 183; claimed 
by Spain, 205; seen by Columbus, 
247; 248. 

South Carolina, 174. 

South Georgia, discovered by Ves- 
pucius, 176. 

South Sea (Pacific Ocean), named by 
Balboa, 181. 

Spain, immigrants come from, 3; 
Hannibal leaves, 45; Moors in, 78; 
79; 142; Columbus goes to, 160; 161, 
162; America claimed for, 167; 168, 
170, 171, 173, 174, 178, 180, 181, 
182, 183, 189; firm foothold of, 
in this country, 198; 205, 209, 211; 
struggles of the Dutch with, 217- 
229; prepares to conquer England, 
230; 231; 236; weakened by the 
attempt, 237; claims all America, 
239; race of, in discovery, 247; be- 
comes active in discovery and ex- 
ploration, 248. 

Spanish Inquisition, hated by the 
English Catholics, 232. 

Spanish Main, 228. 

Sparta, how children were brought up 
in, 25, 26. 

Spartans, bravery of, at Thermopy- 
lae, 17, 18; 26. 

Spitfire, the, captured by Drake, 205; 
228. 

Squire, becoming a knight, 1 12-1 14. 

Squirrel, loss of the, with Sir Humphrey 
Gilbert, 241-242. 

"Stepping-stones," name given to the 
islands about Greece, 12. 

"Stormy Cape," Cape of Good Hope, 

154- 
Sumatra, 151. 
Sun God, 186. 
Swallow, one of Gilbert's vessels, 240. 



Syracuse, 33. 

Syria, ruled by Rome, 48-56; Saint 
Paul in, 62; 135, 140. 

Tacitus, describes the Germans, 68- 

69. 
Tagus River, ships built in the, 229; 

the Armada kept in the, 232. 
Tampa Bay, De Soto reaches, 191, 

248. 
Tangle-wood Tales, 16. 
Tarquin, tries to recover his throne, 40. 
Tarsus, birthplace of Saint Paul, 62. 
Te Deum, chanted by Columbus and 

his men, 167. 
Temple of Peace, 22. 
Tennyson, 82. 
Tenth Legion, 52. 
Thames (river), 91, 102; Henry III, 

on the, 107. 
Thanet, 81 ; Saint Augustine lands 

on, 84. 
Theater, in Athens, 21. 
Thermopylae, the battle of, 17, 18; 41; 

passed by Alaric, 74. 
Thor, 70; the Oak of, 71. 
Thrace, 72. 

Thrower of the Discus, the, 23. 
Tiber (river), 37, 38, 39, 41, 42. 
Tigris River, 142. 
Tournament, 114-115. 
Town meeting, origin of the, 83. 
Trade routes, 141, 142-144. 
Training of a page, 112-113. 
Trasimenus (lake), 47. 
Trebia (river), Hannibal at the, 46. 
Trebizond, 142. 
Triremes, 32. 

Trojans, admit the wooden horse, 16. 
Troy, 15, 39. 

Turkey, part of, ruled by Rome, 48. 
Turks, 98, 117, 156, 162; in Jerusalem, 

134, 135, 136, 137, 140; capture 

Constantinople, 147. 
Twelve Caesars, the, 56. 
Twelve labors of Hercules, 15. 

Ultima Thule, 4. 
Ulysses. See Odysseus. 



INDEX 



263 



United States, peopled by immigrants, 
2; permanent Spanish colonies in 
the, 198; Drake visits the coast of 
the, 207; 248. 

Valhalla, 70. 

Valkyries, 70. 

Valparaiso, visited by Drake, 205. 

Vancouver Island, reached by Drake, 
206. 

Venezuela, visited by Vespucius, 175. 

Venice, 140, 142, 144, 149, 150; Co- 
lumbus asks for funds, 158; 175, 
216. 

Vera Cruz, Spanish slain at, 188; 
entered by Hawkins and Drake, 
204-205. 

Vercingetorix, subdued by Caesar, 

5I - 

Vespucius, voyages of, to America, 

174-176, 177; reaches Brazil, 248. 

Vesuvius, Mount, 58. 

Vigo, 228. 

Vikings, attack England, 85. See 
Northmen and Danes. 

Villeins, duties and troubles of the, 
116-117; 118. 

Vinland, 148. 

Virgil, 15. 

Virginia, why so named, 243; Ra- 
leigh's relief ships fail to reach, 245; 
246. 

Volsci (Volscians), enemies of Rome, 
41. 



Wales, 82. 

Watling's Island, 167. 

Welsh, 107. 

Wessex, ruled by Alfred, 88. 

Western Goths, 74. 

West Indies, 170, 226; Drake sails to 
the, 228; 243. 

Westminster Abbey, 70. 

White, John, governor of Roanoke 
Island, 245-246. 

Wight, Isle of, held by the Jutes, 82. 

William the Norman, conquers Eng- 
land, 96; rules in England, 97-98, 
101, 102. 

William of Orange (William the 
Silent), becomes leader of the 
Dutch, 219-220; murder of, 221. 

Windmills of Holland, 215-216. 

Wonder-Book, 16, 23. 

Wooden horse of Troy, 15-16. 

"World," as understood in early 
times, 3. 

Wotan, 69. 

Xerxes, Persian ruler, 18. 

York, 119. 

Zama, the Carthaginians conquered 

at, 47. 
Zealanders, attack the Spaniards, 221. 
Zeus, king of the gods, 15. 
Zuni Indians, 194. 
Zutphen, 227. 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 

II2-12-4- 25-5011 



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